Story of a Third Street Clusterfuck
by johnnysgirls
Summary: There are a lot of Bosses in a lot of Universes... and one of the Kinzies' has worked out how to travel between them. A collaborated fic by Shadow182Angel, HeartwritingM and DoubleH19 and starring our three Bosses.
1. Prologue

**Hello there - and welcome to DoubleH19, HeartwritingM and Shadow182Angel's first collaborated fic! Shadow here, adding a quick AN. This was inspired by a scene in Saints Row: Devastation where Kinzie discovers alternate universes and wonders if maybe they could travel between them...  
**

**Anyway, it involves scenes written by all of us and features the return of some missed Saints, Johnny, Lin and Carlos.**

* * *

_Kinzie's Log - Startdate 23.9 rounded off to the nearest decimal point. The Boss told me not to bring any other Bosses through to this dimension, but she never said I anything about myself…_

Kinzie tapped away at the keys, grinning. She was going to have some fun tonight...

In another space, another Kinzie was passed out in front of her computer, a pair of headphones on her head. The cursor on her screen blinked on a black background, but then letters began appearing, causing a soft beeping to trill through the petite redhead's headphones.

'_Wake up, Kinzie.'_

Kinzie sat up, groggy. "What?"

'_The Matrix has you…'_

Kinzie looked around. "What the hell?"

'_Follow the white rabbit…'_

Kinzie frowned. "Who the hell managed to get past my firewalls?"

#

Kinzie laughed, grinning and fingers racing over the keyboard. "This is too much fun. Who else do you think is getting past your firewalls? I designed them!"

Text started appearing on her laptop's display. '_Who the hell is this!? Miller?'_

Kinzie considered drawing it out, but decided against it. 'I'm Kinzie Kensington,' she typed back.

'_I'm Kinzie Kensington,'_ came the quick reply, _'When I find you Matt I'm going to ruin your life and make you wish you were never born! I'll sell your home on eBay! Twice! I'll send the feds looking for cp on your computer!'_

Kinzie chuckled. It was her all right. She started tapping away at the keys. 'Run a network trace.'

There was a pause of nearly a minute. Kinzie waited patiently. Text finally appeared.

'_I'm listening.'_

'Good,' Kinzie typed back. 'Now, I need your help, and I need you to keep this a secret, got it? Two Kinzies are better than one.'

'_You're way ahead of the government on this.'_

'I know,' Ljubica's Kinzie replied. 'And seriously, DO NOT TELL YOUR BOSS. Mine already told me to stop playing, pretty sure yours will do the same thing.'

'_Got it,'_ the other Kinzie typed back.

'Well, actually she said don't transport any Bosses,' Kinzie amended. 'She never said anything about another Kinzie.'

* * *

Kinzie tapped away at her laptop. Today was the day. Today was the day she and Kinzie were going to make history!

'I'm ready when you are,' Kinzie told her through the webcam connection as she stood nervously on a small glowing plinth under an archway that was a mess of cables and sensors.

'Initiating start up sequence,' Kinzie replied, typing commands into her terminal.

Kinzie's gate starting fluctuating from white to purple, slowly at first but with gathering speed. The lights in the room dimmed, and Kinzie briefly wondered if she'd underestimated the power calculations.

Unfortunately for the woman materializing in the portal's doorway, it was too late for that. Kinzie made some changes to the algorithms on the fly, and the form took more shape, becoming more solid. There was a burst of blinding violet light and acrid black smoke.

As the smoke cleared, Kinzie Kensington stared at herself. It was both unnerving, and liberating. She'd done the impossible!

"Hi," Kinzie said carefully, noting the lack of clothes.

Kinzie breathed a sigh of relief, "I made it. I'm not a pile of goo for some fanboy to lubricate his wanker with."

"We did it!" Kinzie gushed, excited. "It's possible to travel between dimensions! Though I almost lost you…"

"You what!?" Kinzie asked heatedly, then realized she was completely nude, and flushed, pressing her knees together and wrapping her arms over her chest. "Where the hell are my clothes!?"

"Nothing," Kinzie replied hastily. "You're here, that's what matters. We should contact another Kin-"

The door to Kinzie's Inner Sanctum opened, and The Boss walked in, interrupting her. "Kinz, I-…"

Her voice trailed off, violet eyes looking between the clothed Kinzie, and the naked one.

"What the fuck is that!?" Ljubica snapped, drawling "Holy Jesus…" as it all became clear to her, anger rising.

Her Kinzie had brought another Kinzie to her home. Naked.

"_Kinzie!_" Ljubica shouted, drawing the name out, anger boiling over almost immediately. "What have you been doing!?"

"Er, hi Boss," Kinzie replied nervously, casting a glance at her nude twin. "It's not what it looks like…"

"You are sending her back _right fucking now_," Ljubica growled, and the Kinzies quickly looked to one another, expressions identical.

"Just do it," the naked Kinzie squeaked and her twin nodded and began quickly typing at her console…

* * *

Kinzie cringed and shivered as she began to materialize, crushing her eyes shut at the bright light before she finally felt her own weight on her feet. She blinked her eyes open, finding herself back in her Steelport haven and standing on top of a pile of clothes. The journey back hadn't been as pleasant and she cringed, stumbling forward and feeling dry bile racing up her throat.

"Urgh," she groaned, swallowing it back. _Interesting side effect,_ she thought,_ I'll have to document it…_

Kinzie glanced over at the screen which was now blank, a slight worried frown when she considered what kind of hell her other-self was enduring from the Russian woman. She sniffed; there was a thick acrid scent in the air, and when she glanced to her portal she cringed when she saw some of the wires smoking. _That can't be good…_

A familiar trill caught her attention and she glanced down at the clothes, crouching down to hunt through the pockets of her jeans for her phone. She checked the caller ID.

_Boss_.

"Yes?" she answered quickly, trying to keep the nausea out of her tone.

"_Kinz, I need you to do a quick trace for me. Juan Espinosa, he should be hanging around the docks by Three Count but I need a pinpoint on him."_

Kinzie couldn't help but feel deflated. She'd just achieved inter-dimensional transportation, and her Boss wanted her doing a cell trace?

"I'm on it," she said flatly, the Boss' only response being the dial tone when she hung up. Kinzie sat down on her clothes, roughly pulling her heavy FBI jacket over her naked chest.

_Phone traces, pfft. _Scary Russian woman or no, she wasn't about to let this project slide.


	2. There's been a Slight Miscalculation

Ljubica ducked behind a crate, peering out the side. The shipment was already here. They were at an older dock, little used and it was overrun with trash, debris, and homeless people. She looked over at Lin, who grinned, and the two women strode purposefully towards the waiting black Mules. Ljubica pulled her Shepherd and jacked the slide.

The next thing to do, of course, was open fire.

Ljubica shot two of them in the head, and as they started to get up while she passed, casually put two more bullets in them.

Lin tore into a cluster of three of them, snapping necks and twisting bodies until they all lay in a mangled, bloody heap.

Ljubica emptied her pistol into another, dropping the empty magazine to the ground as she started loading another. Before she could ram it home, she was hit from behind, hard, her assailant sending them both through the air. The fresh magazine was flung far in the other direction.

Ljubica felt her mind go into its happy place. Everything slowed, and she twisted herself around in her attacker's grip, landing on her back. The wind was knocked from her, but she was calm as she reached for the sides of his head.

The burly Circle enforcer leered down at her, grabbed her face in one hand and slammed the leader of the Saints' head against a rock like he was trying to crack open a mussel and get at the goop inside. Scowling, he crashed her skull into the rock again.

Ljubica saw stars, eyes fluttering for a moment. But she felt her finger tips slide against his cheeks, and she grinned as she wrenched his head around with a sickening pop and grinding of bone. The man fell limp on top of her, and she shoved him off of her and got to her feet.

"Boss!" Lin cried. "You ok?"

Ljubica nodded, too quickly, and her vision swam, but she waived Lin off. "I am being fine."

"No, you're not, _niña_," Carlos said, sword drawn and ready, already lunging at Ljubica.

Ljubica stepped to the side, narrowly avoiding a disembowelment, and Lin hissed viciously, putting herself between them.

Ljubica drew her sword. "Be moving away, Lin," she ordered. "And be leaving him to me," she added dangerously.

Lin drew her own sword slowly. "I've dealt how many fatal blows to you, Carlos?" she asked, moving out of the way.

"Not enough, apparently," he told her, smirking. He attacked slicing in a sweeping arc.

Ljubica ducked beneath the first swipe and came up slashing, but Carlos twisted out of the way.

"Quick little devil," Ljubica noted, sounding amused. She'd only ever fought Lin before, who'd grown breathtakingly fast. Still, Carlos was faster than most normal people.

"I can finish this now, Boss," Lin grumbled, watching Carlos intently. Her eyes had bled from brown to a vibrant, if pale, shade of purple.

Ljubica pressed the attack, now, forcing Carlos back several steps. "Come back to me, _niño_," Ljubica urged gently.

"Not happening," Carlos shot back, side-stepping a thrust and kicking her in the stomach.

A deep roaring seemed to fill the air, causing all three of them to look around. A strong wind picked up, kicking up dirt and debris. With a horrendous ripping sound, a hole shredded into existence in the very fabric of reality not far away. It was small at first, but growing.

"What the shit?" Ljubica breathed, squinting to protect her vision.

Then Carlos, shielding his eyes, was suddenly ripped through the air and sucked into the nothingness.

"Fuck, Carlos!" Ljubica screamed, instinctively taking a step forward. As her foot touched down, she very much wished she hadn't.

Ljubica let out a long, drawn out 'fuck and shit' as she was picked up and sucked through the void herself. The hole was rapidly getting smaller.

"Boss!" Lin cried, and without thinking flung herself through the air at the tear in reality, slipping through it just as it closed.

The air was eerily silent as everything stilled. The only sign the Saints had even been there was a single purple Shepherd magazine, fully loaded, with a fleur-de-lis engraved into its side.

* * *

"_Gat, you can't even drive stick! How're you gonna fly a plane?" Shaundi shouted over the gunfire on the other side of the metal desk Loren was just sitting at before this whole situation became pandemonium. Gat crouched on the other side of the Boss, her black eyes flashing red before she began to throw pipe bombs over the desk. _

"_Details, details." Johnny hollered back over the swirling dust that filled the room, "Just cover the Boss." _

_The Italian, looking at Gat incredulously, was taken completely by surprise when Johnny grabbed her face and smashed his lips with hers in one final kiss. Mercedes held that kiss among the wind, before Johnny let her go sharply. She whispered something into his ear, something that made his face sober with the clarity. Her name. He jerked his chin towards the door, and said to the Italian, "Go on. I got this." _

_He realized why she'd told him her name. _

_She wanted him to know in case he didn't make it out. She had doubt. _

_Shaundi effectively tugged the Boss along, making her move out the door. Johnny charged around the desk, connecting his foot with a red-shirted thug before flipping the other man's gun and shooting him with it. When both ladies were out, Johnny slammed the door shut, and stopped when he saw the Boss' face. He mouthed to her a few words, before Shaundi yanked Mercedes along the hallway. _

"_I love you, god dammit." _

_Mercedes' head went black, as she heard his voice, that throaty voice, say her name. _

"_Mercy…"_

"_Mercy…?"_

"_MERCEDES." _

The Italian bolted awake, her eyes flying wide and her hands gripping the sheets on either side of her. The man who had spoken was hovering over her, without his glasses and looking worried. They blinked at each other, and the crisp morning light shone on their pale skin-the woman's darker, as Mercedes realized what had just happened. "It was just a dream…"

Johnny shook his head, and muttered back to her, "You were sayin' shit in your sleep again, woke me up. The same dream?"

"Yeah," Mercedes replied, looking sheepishly at him. Johnny rolled to his side of the bed, and pulled her over to him, her right hand resting on his chest and his own around her tightly. She whispered, "The same one."

"Shhh…" He hushed back in her ear, running his thumb down her bare spine and over the countless scars that lay there. They looked out to Steelport together through the one-way glass, and just thanked the gods that they were together now. Gat whispered to her, "Mercedes?"

"Mmm?" She hummed back sleepily, yawning. The short hair fell on the Asian's collarbone, tickling the gooseflesh that was rapidly breaking out on his skin. After being away from her for so long, it was like he was rediscovering Mercedes Lucario all over again. The Italian looked up at him, at the expression of finding the right words to say. His lip gnawed on by his teeth, and his eyebrows knitted together regally, his eyes on the tattooed little hand on his chest. She knew what he was trying to say, at least. Mercedes growled at him, "Don't you fuckin' dare try to apologize for what happened."

Johnny combed his disheveled 'bed head' with his hand, as he reached over for his prescription sunglasses, sliding them on. He knew that neither of them would manage to get back to bed after he answered this statement, and when he did, she couldn't believe the words he spouted from his mouth like a waterfall of reality. "I wasn't gonna try to apologize for what happened; I'm gonna try to apologize for not coming back sooner…" Then he mumbled something she thought she'd gotten rid of yesterday. The jealousy. "I was almost too late."

When Mercedes looked back up at him, the hand behind his head a clenched fist, she said, "You don't have to ask for my forgiveness or my views on what you just said. You already know them. Angel De La Muerte could've had me, had you not found me and I still believed you to be dead. But you did, and you are here with me. And secondly-"

She was abruptly silenced by a harsh knocking on the door. Grumbling, Mercedes threw on her black shorts and purple tank top after tugging her underwear back on. Johnny remained in bed, uncaring that he was naked and watching her lupinely. The Italian opened it to find that it was her heir, her adopted son. Kurt.

The lanky boy of eighteen years looked worried in his usual ensemble of a purple v-neck t-shirt and black jeans. The black Converse that never left his feet were scuffed and dirty, as if Kurt had just been running through the grimy streets of Steelport all the way up to his foster mother's room. The messy blonde hair that formed a golden halo around his head was disorderly and Kurt seemed to be out of breath. Mercedes said, concerned, "What is it? Kurt, what's happened?"

"Zombie outburst in Arapice Island. Angel and Oleg sent me here from the Loren Skyscraper to get you." Kurt panted, his hands on his hips and breathing rather hard. He asked, "Is Johnny in there?"

"Yeah-Johnny?" Mercedes said, before calling over her shoulder.

Johnny called back, as the Italian kept her eyes on Kurt's worried face, "Yeah, babe?"

"Suit up, we're heading to Arapice Island for some zombie hunting. Call Jessibelle and tell her to meet us there." Mercedes ordered, and she heard him getting from the bed, the rustling of clothes following soon after.

"Yes, ma'am." He said back, satisfied. After a moment, Gat confirmed, "I'm dressed, you can come in."

Mercedes stepped aside to let Kurt in before shutting her door. Johnny had managed to find his jeans from the night before, and was currently digging in their closet for a shirt, the powerful bands of steel in his arms flexing as he searched. The Italian looked down to her own tank top, knowing that she needed a little something more to protect her arms. She found the spiked jacket from **Nobody Loves Me** and carefully put it on, before finding her high-heeled thigh-high boots.

When she was done, she turned to find Gat on the phone-probably with Jessibelle, and her son looking at her expectantly, as if waiting. Mercedes obliged, "Your orders are to stay here, Kurt."

Throwing Johnny a look that simply said 'you might want to go outside', Mercedes' lover took his conversation outside, leaning against the banister and talking into the phone in quick bursts of words. Kurt started to plead, "Oh c'mon! You never let me do zombie missions! You'll let me take out Morningstar and Deckers…"

"Because the Morningstar and Deckers aren't that hard to defeat. Luchadores and zombies are entirely different. Yes, the Deckers have their shock hammers, but zombies will _eat you alive._" Mercedes pointed out, as she put a new poison-tipped bar in her ear and fixed her boot sheaths with knives.

"I understand that, but I've read that one book, _Zombie Survival Guide-" _Kurt began to say, but the Italian cut him off.

"_Guides _don't hold a candle to actually having experience fighting these things." Mercedes argued, and pointed to Johnny outside, "Johnny is a ruthless, killing artist. We bring Jessibelle because she's a deranged maniac responsible for Professor Genki's death arenas. We bring Ryan because he's a master sharpshooter and marksman. And I am the Boss of the most feared gang on the planet."

"And me?" Kurt said defensively

"You are my son. My heir." Mercedes said solemnly, walking up to put her hands on her son's shoulders. "I need you to stay here in case I don't come back."

"But-"

"But nothing, kid," Johnny interjected from the doorway, having heard the whole thing from the balcony and finished his calls. He came up to look the young man in the eye, and Gat knew that he was some sort of crazy godfather to Kurt. Johnny had met Kurt when Mercedes did before the bank heist, and cared for the heir of his girlfriend like she did. Gat finished, shoving his hands in his pocket, "She's right. Arapice Island isn't the place. You need to be here to hold down the fort. That's more valuable than anything."

Kurt looked from his adopted mother to his adopted father, knowing that those two were the only family he'd known. He had to do this for them. He owed it. He said, quietly, "Alright. I'll stay."

Mercedes smiled and kissed his forehead, "Good boy. I'll call Angel, have him come and keep you safe."

Kurt began to protest again, but the Italian stopped him with a finger to the young man's lips. Mercedes ordered, "Shh…Just do what you're told, Kurtas."

Kurt nodded, and went to sit on their bed, still with sheets strewn everywhere. Reminiscent of the night before. Johnny and Mercedes left the room, and went for the gun stash in the kitchen across the penthouse. The sniper, having received the same message, waited for them on the helipad. Snagging a parachute from the rack on the way to the helipad, the pair slung them onto their backs.

The handsome orange-haired sniper said as they approached, "Good morning. You two got the message from Kurt, I assume?"

"Yes, we did." Johnny answered, as he carried twin Krukovs in his hands.

Mercedes cut to the chase effectively, "Ready?"

The three of them faced their backs to the empty air, standing on the edge of the helipad. This was a routine; parachuting down to the ground and then taking a car to get where they needed to be. But before the men could say 'ready', Mercedes had already jumped, falling through the nothingness.

The two, chuckling at her boldness, followed suit.

Then, they heard a thundering louder than any storm that had ever rocket Steelport or Stilwater. A great crackling that could only be described as something like the very soul of the earth cracking in two. So unnatural and so out-of-place in this otherwise almost peaceful morning.

Mercedes looked up- or rather down, since she was in free-fall upside down- and saw a magnificent black hole opening up in midair. The gravity from it ripped the scream from her throat, and Gat's own frantic cry from above her. She had no choice.

It swallowed her up, along with Johnathan Gat and Ryan Calarissian.

The only things that hit the ground…

…were the parachutes.

* * *

Ljubica groaned, looking around. She was lying in a dark, dirty alley, and the sound of traffic close by filled her ears. Lin's head appeared in front of her, ponytail tickling the Russian woman's nose.

"Boss!" Lin cried. "You okay?"

Ljubica nodded, sitting up. Her head still swam a little, and it hurt. Her Shepherd was sticking out from under a dumpster, and she got up to retrieve it, frowning at the lack of a magazine. She tucked it into her waistband, looking for her sword.

Lin was already handing it to her.

"Thanks," Ljubica told her, looking around. She saw Carlos standing deeper in the alley, looking lost, and she stalked up to him, blade drawn. "We are having some unfinished business, you and I!"

Lin bared her fangs in a snarl.

"Boss, wait!" Carlos pleaded, holding out his hands.

As Ljubica got close, she noticed his eyes were no longer orange, but that soft brown she remembered from so long ago. She held out a hand to Lin, stopping her.

"I feel like me," he explained. "I don't feel Mother bearing down on me."

Ljubica looked over at Lin, brow raised curiously. She had no idea how any of this shit worked.

Lin shrugged slightly. "He could be so far away that her influence doesn't reach," she admitted. "Or it's a trick. Get an axe."

"It's no trick, _niña_," Carlos insisted. "It's really me! You obviously gave Lin a chance..."

Ljubica nodded. "And like her I will be watching you."

Lin looked like she was about to speak, but a sharp look from Ljubica silenced her.

"We are needing clothes for Carlos at least," Ljubica told them. "Both of you are being sore thumbs, though. Maybe we can all be going shopping, no?"

#

Ljubica left her dressing room wearing a pair of black slacks that fit her toned legs rather nicely, a loose, ruffled violet blouse, and matching open-toed heels. Her hair was pulled up into a loose bun, a pair of hair sticks stabbed through it to hold it in place, though some rebellious strands hung down to frame her face. She'd added a little big of eye makeup and faint reddish lip gloss, and looking more like she was about go clubbing than killing.

"Boss, wow," Lin said quietly. She was wearing a pair of black jeans, heels, and a dark purple top herself, and understated eyeliner. She gave her Boss a look up and down, grinning.

Carlos nodded. "Yeah, Boss, you look pretty hot." He was wearing a purple beanie, oddly-fashionable track pants, and a purple hoody.

Ljubica offered them a faint smile. "Likewise. Now, let's go be getting some guns."

"Hey, you have to pay for that!" the Hispanic girl behind the counter shouted.

"The fuck you mean I am having to pay?" Ljubica growled, stalking over to the register. "I am owning this fucking city!"

"Look, _chica_," she retorted, smacking on some chewing gum. "I dunno who you are, but you definitely ain't the Boss. Pay up, or get out."

Ljubica frowned. They didn't have any money, or any weapons to steal it with.

So she slammed the woman's face into the register. There was a loud ding of a bell, and the cash drawer crashed open, spilling coins and bills out onto the floor.

"I am thinking there is enough money in there to be paying for the clothing, yes?"

"Hey what the fuck bitch!" a Saint shouted from the door, reaching for his Shepherd.

"Time to be going!" Ljubica cried, rushing the door. She didn't want to kill Saints, even if they weren't her own, so she decked the man going for his pistol. Carlos followed her lead and tripped the other one.

As they rushed outside, Ljubica spotted a blue Hammer at the curb. As bullets whistled past, she smashed the passenger window with her elbow, jerking the door open and diving inside. Lin was right behind her and hit the unlock button so Carlos could scrambled into the backseat.

"Start you bag of shit," Ljubica growled, sparking the ignition wires together.  
The Hammer rumbled to life and she twisted the wires off, shoving the car into gear and squealing away from the scene.

* * *

Above the entrance to the HQ of a very different Steelport, the void reopened and wind erupted violently from it, no longer the vacuum-only the exhaust. The Italian was vomited from it first, landing in one of the small flower beds along the sidewalk on her back and letting out a cry of pain as another body fell on top of her. One she was intimately familiar with. With a yelp, the third and final body fell through before the void was closed, unable to support itself through another transportation sequence.

Mercedes finally drew air when Johnny lifted himself from her slightly, gingerly and painfully. They were both shaken and shivering from the transportation experience, the ripping through emptiness like a tornado had swallowed them whole. Gat asked her gruffly, as he propped himself up on his elbows on either side of her, "You okay, Boss?"

"I won't know until you get offa me." Was her panting reply, before he made a noise that sounded awfully similar to him saying, 'Oh, right', sliding off her and onto the walk beside the raised bed. Helping her up and both of them dusting themselves off. Mercedes called out to the sniper, "Ryan? Where you at?"

"Behind you."

The Italian spun around, and went in the direction of the voice. Behind the flower bed and onto the not-that-soft grass. Ryan was covered in dirt-a result of the void's winds, and his hair was a mess. With a small smirk on his face at his friend's condition, Gat helped the sniper to his feet as well.

"Looks like we're still in Steelport, and at the HQ, but something doesn't smell right." Mercedes said pensively, looking around. Her gaze then fell on a smoking down the street from the HQ, what the hell?

"Boss, you seein' what I'm seein'?" Johnny asked, as all three caught sight of the trailing smoke from behind a building.

They only had to make ten steps down that street to see it.

Planet Saints…burned to the ground?

"Uh, Boss?" The sniper's voice didn't seem too sure.

Mercedes bent her head in his direction, and the Asian took her hand.

* * *

"So, what now, Boss?" Carlos asked, walking on Ljubica's left. Lin was on her right. Each had a fully-spec'd Shepherd under their coats and several magazines, Ljubica's purple sporting a regular silver magazine, and the local Friendly Fire was much poorer.

"These people should be knowing me," she told them. "And they are not. I am thinking we are not being in Kansas anymore."

"But you said…" Lin began.

"This is being Steelport," Ljubica assured her. "But I am thinking not _my_ Steelport. When I am getting my hands on that damned hacker, no amount of _teacups _is going to be saving her from me!"

"So, what now?" Carlos asked again.

"I am thinking we look in all the hide outs," Ljubica replied. "Until we are finding the me here. It would be impolite to be going straight to his or her Kinzie with this. I'd be killing me for it."

* * *

"_Who's_ a good boy?"

The Boss of this world chided at the tiger as it snarled playfully, trying to tug the bone from her grip. She gave a small smile back at it, wrenching the bone out of its bite.

"Who wants the Luchador's femur? _You want the femur?_" she said and the animal snapped eagerly, giving a gentle chuff in anticipation.

"Go geddit!" she said, drawing her arm back and throwing the bone back across the helipad – it sailed back towards the penthouse and made a soft _splosh_ as it landed in the pool. The enormous Siberian tiger bounded after it, taking a running leap and crashing down into the water after his prize. The Boss allowed herself a smile; the time alone with her 'pet' was treasured now, moments of pure ease that punctuated her bereavement. She hated being a miserable bitch; 'Trouble' the tiger helped her not be. She began striding across the helipad back toward the pool where Trouble was happily paddling through when a sudden high-pitched roar and gust of wind ripped through the air.

"What the shit-?" she said, her words carried off by the violent blast of air. She whirled around at the noise but as soon as it had started it was gone, leaving only a slight crackling sensation in the air. She frowned, glaring through the city; Spectre maybe? No… VTOL flying too low?

It was Trouble's wet, furry head nudging her side that broke her out of her musings. He held the bone between his teeth like a Labrador might and was glaring off into the distance just as his mistress had. If it was any sort of plane she' have been able to see it, surely.

"Hmn…" was all she mused, softly scratching at Trouble's ears, "Alright Trubs, gimme that," she said, forcing a smile to push away her concerns and grabbing the bone, wrestling a little with the large cat as she tried to pry it out of his mouth. The tiger refused this time, deciding he preferred a little tug-o-war to fetch.

The Boss made her way around the edge of the pool, dragging the tiger along by the human femur it still had clenched between his teeth. Finally he let it go and she tossed it casually into the pool, Trouble leaping in after it with a massive splash. The Boss only chuckled as she continued inside, carefully closing the door behind her. Though Trouble was an 'indoor' cat she didn't want him leaving puddles through the place.

The HQ was relatively quiet tonight; she knew Pierce was here and Shaundi had crashed about an hour ago but aside from that, she was alone in her home. And quite preferred it that way.

Unwilling to get any sleep herself she strolled to the bar, hunting out a can of Saints Flow and cracked it open, realizing with a little disappointment they weren't going to be making them anymore. Shame. She liked the stuff, even though a few of the ingredients were illegal in some countries.

She chugged about half the can, taking her cell out and scrolling shortly through numbers before landing on Oleg's, hitting the call button as she sauntered out from around the bar. Plans were being made for tomorrow to hit a small nest of Deckers Kinzie had picked up on and the Boss decided she wanted some muscle for this; those fucking hammer-girls were still showing up now and then and Oleg was one of the best people she could use against them. She put the phone to her ear, waiting patiently as it rang. Her attention only briefly caught at the sound of the elevator doors pinging open and a sudden familiar voice yelling out in frustration-

"Would someone please tell me why this fuckin' elevator is playing shitty music?!"

* * *

Below, Mercedes, Ryan and Johnny had raced back to the HQ as fast as they could, not believing what they were seeing. They hurried to the elevator and Johnny punched the button. As they rose through the stories, the music played.

The scowl on Mercedes' face grew as she said, "Bach? What is this? I'm damn sure I ordered Black Sabbath for the elevator music."

Ryan chuckled, "You did, I dunno what's up with this."

Gat shook his head, pinching the bridge of his nose. And still they rose through the stories. After about a minute, they reached the top.

Gat, extremely irate, came out of the elevator yelling, "Would someone please tell me why this fuckin' elevator is playing shitty music?!"

The Boss' heart stopped at the voice.

She whirled on the spot – she knew that voice too well, and seeing him step out of the elevator, she felt her jaw drop.

"…_Johnny?_" she breathed, the world suddenly forgotten. She didn't even register the other two Saints stepping out either side of him giving her strange looks, or the fact Oleg had picked up on the other line. Her phone slipped out of her hand, clattering onto the floor and she stared up at Johnny Gat, stunned.

_He's alive?_

It took a moment to believe what she was seeing was real. He was alive. He was _here_. She actually laughed, rushing across the living room, to the stairs, to him.

"Jesus fucking Christ!" she laughed. Gat spared only a short glance to Ryan who shrugged. Mercedes however, glared at the Saint she'd never seen before who was rushing at them and looking like she was about to tackle Gat. With a cold sneer, she whipped her arm out as the woman was about to bound up the steps, clothes-lining her over the throat.

* * *

**Shadow182Angel: So three Alpha Bitches walk into the HQ... what did you think was going to happen?**

**HeartWritingM: It's about to get REAL lol :D  
**


	3. REOW!

**Shadow182angel: Heya everyone and thanks for the reviews!**

**HeartWritingM: Yes, thanks!  
**

**Double H19: Hello ladies and gentlemen. The following contest will be a 'Disregard bitches, acquire currency' match. In the purple corner, weighing in at 154lbs is Mercedes "the Cobra" Lucario! And in the..._other _purple corner, weighing in at 165 lbs...the Bawwwwwwwwssssss! Now, if I may...LET'S GET READY TO RUMBLE!**

* * *

Ljubica looked from Lin to Carlos. "Be waiting out here for me, there is going to be enough cause for alarm without them seeing the two of you."

"Like hell," Lin growled. "I'm not staying out here while you go in there alone."

"She has a point, Boss," Carlos conceded.

"I am big girl," Ljubica told them. "Now fucking _wait_ out here unless you are wanting to be fed to a bear."

#

The Boss snarled up at the woman, shock quickly giving way to fury. The Saint looking down at her was unfamiliar; her skin was a canvas of tattoos, her hair cropped back into a faux-hawk and her eyes, the creepiest of blacks. The Boss could give a fuck – she propped herself up and quick as a flash, swung both her legs around in a low kick and taking the other woman's legs out from under her. Mercedes barely let out a small surprised noise before she thudded to the ground with a grunt, her black gaze snapping suddenly to the Boss and her lips curling into a snarl.

In an instant, they were on each other. Mercedes drew a fist back and swung, the Boss fluidly dodging then swinging back with her own hit which Mercedes instantly blocked; both were still knelt on the ground, twisting through a flurry of fists and blocks though neither seeming to be able to land a single hit.

The noise couldn't keep the rest of the residents asleep for long; Pierce came quickly stumbling out of his room, still half asleep but with a baseball bat in hand (sometimes, a man just likes to run 'old school'). Shaundi was a little more irate as she stumbled out of her room, wearing little more than a loose purple shirt and boy-cut underwear. Groggily, she rubbed an eye, still too tired to really register what was happening in the room.

"The _hell?_" she grumbled, "You people have _any_ idea what time it is?"

_Dammit, this bitch is good_, the Boss thought darkly, deciding she needed a change of tactic – her opponent made the same choice in the same split second and lunged at the Boss, one hand grasping through her hair, the next drawing into a fist and slamming an uppercut suddenly up under her ribs. The Boss gasped as her diaphragm spasmed, then snorted like a bull with a red flag waved before it. She caught Mercedes' fist as it was about to slam into her side again and twisted sharply; in a fluid movement she wrestled her legs around, rolling backwards and pulling Mercedes over her as she slammed both feet up into the other woman's stomach, kicking her clear off and flipping her over. The Boss cringed at the sharp snapping and popping as she felt a thin chunk of her hair ripped out.

There was only one thing in that room more distracting to Shaundi and Pierce, however, and he was standing at the foot of the stairs, looking torn between breaking up the fight and amusedly watching the two hash it out.

"I- _Gat?_" Shaundi breathed, ignoring the tall, orange-haired man beside him. Gat looked over his shoulder and smiled broadly at Shaundi.

Ryan, however, was already racing to her, wrapping his arms tightly around the woman's waist with relief. "Shaundi! Thank God you're alright babe, I saw that Planet Saints bur-"

"Jesus!" Pierce almost laughed, but he was too astonished as he stared at Gat, "Holy shit brother you're supposed to be _dead-_"

"Dead?" Johnny said incredulously, as the sniper was frantically trying to get Shaundi's attention, but her eyes were on Gat. Shaundi was trying to wrestle out of Ryan's grip, finally turning and, in a swift moved learnt from Johnny himself, cracked her forehead down onto his nose, wrestling free and racing towards Johnny.

"Christ! You're alive! I don't fucking believe it!" she yelped, tears already in her eyes as she threw her arms around him. Ryan stood there, holding his face and looking longingly at Shaundi, wondering what went wrong. Johnny, shooting a mildly sympathetic look at Ryan, said to the little brunette glomping his waist, "Hey there. Of course I'm alive."

"Shit! Shit Johnny where have you been?" she nearly sobbed, as Pierce put and arm around Shaundi's shoulders, his other hand still firmly on his lost friend's shoulder, totally oblivious now to the fist fight their Boss was viciously engaged in and both assuming she could handle herself.

It was a half second as both women shrugged off their 'minor' injuries, clambering to their feet and landing themselves in identical fight stances, Mercedes trying to flick the long strands of ebony hair off her fingers with a slightly disgusted cringe. The Boss could feel her heart thump harder in her chest with adrenalin.

Mercedes smirked at her, "I'd ask who the fuck you are, but seeing as-"

"-I'm gonna kill your ass, it's really not gonna matter," The Boss spat back.

Mercedes barely gave a small surprised blink before the other woman charged, drawing back her fist. Mercedes dodged the first blow, but the returning hook slammed hard into her jaw and she grunted, feeling her cheek split inside her mouth, blood spraying from between the Italian's teeth.

Mercedes quickly caught the third punch though, grabbing the slightly smaller woman's arm and indulged a wresting move learnt from Angel; the Boss barley gave a surprised yell as Mercedes swung and threw her across the room, slamming onto the coffee table and sliding across it onto the ground.

Johnny noted the tightness of Shaundi's hug, and nudged her, "Shaundi...release, Shaundi. I have to see if Mercy's alright."

"_Mercy?_ Gat who the hell are these people?" Shaundi said as she loosened her grip, waving at the strangers in the hideout.

"This is _bullshit_," the Boss grunted, springing up to crouch catlike and glancing sharply over her shoulder to see Mercedes running at her. Instinct took over; the Boss gripped the edge of the coffee table and sharply flipped it up, using all her strength to kick it at the woman. Mercedes swiftly leapt to the side as the bit of furniture went crashing past her, a look of astonishment on her face.

"Did you just throw a _table_ at me?"

"Every stick of furniture in my house can be a weapon," the Boss smirked, her muscles tensing as she braced herself for the next wave. Mercedes shot her a furious look-

"_Your_ house? Fucking fangirls!"

In the same instant, both Mercedes and the Boss charged each other, then drew up a heavy right kick, the Boss' foot slamming hard into Mercedes' chest the instant Mercedes' kick landed square on the Boss' sternum. Both women flew back with the impact, slamming down hard onto their backs, stunned.

Two sudden shots from a heavy-calibre pistol echoed around the room, and the breathless crew looked abruptly up at the split level.

Still holding a smoking Shepherd, another black-haired woman stood, slouched slightly onto one hip. Her expression was cool and calm behind her violet eyes, and in the new blanket of silence she took a few steps forward, glancing down at the crew.

"Ladies, please, we are needing to be talking," Ljubica said coolly with an amused smile, her voice laden with a thick Russian accent.

"Who the fuck are you?" Mercedes and Lil shouted in unison before throwing vicious glares at each other.

"I am being you," Ljubica replied, then frowned slightly at the vagueness of her own answer, "Sort of. It is not an easy thing to be explaining"

The Boss' glare became a touch flatter at the Russian woman's declaration, "Then you better start fucking explaining it, you just put two potholes in my ceiling."

"You'll get over it." Mercedes grumbled to herself.

The Boss dusted herself off, a quick snarl over her lips. "Watch yourself bitch, you clearly got no idea who you're fucking with- Gat, do you _know_ this woman?" she said, waving a hand emphatically to Mercedes, her own heart aching a little when she saw him. She wanted to rush to him again, but there was something strange in the way he was looking at her.

The Italian woman ran a hand through her hair wearily before she got to her feet, casting a glare at her most recent adversary. She chuckled darkly as her black eyes glinted with amusement, "Easy there, killer."

Johnny walked over to Mercedes, and put an arm around her waist, snapping, "That's my Boss you're calling a bitch there, lady."

The Boss blinked, something cold, horrible and confusing twisting in her stomach. Everything else in the room was forgotten; she felt her heart suddenly drop into her stomach, her body wracked with a dangerous combination of confusion, fury and outright jealousy as she saw Johnny's arm snaking around the Italian woman.

"Johnny, what _the hell_?" she breathed, just as Shaundi wrenched away from him, as confused and horror-struck as the Boss.

"The fuck are you sayin' Gat? Who the hell is this?" Pierce shot at his friend, stepping backwards to his Boss and standing guardedly over her, throwing Gat wary looks as he did.

Ljubica sighed. "Kinzie is being too smart for her own fucking good…" she muttered to herself before clearing her throat to regain the other's attention, "I have been seeing both of you ladies before on her computers."

The two Bosses and Gat snapped their heads over to the Russian surprised, _"What?!"_

The Boss shook her head, trying to get her thoughts straight, "You've been spying on me?" she snapped at the Russian stranger.

Mercedes and Johnny both looked a bit flustered. The Italian warned, "If you've been watching me shower..."

Ljubica shook her head. "I fucking told Kinzie to be leaving this shit alone," she groaned and motioned towards the Boss of this world, "We need to be talking to your Kinzie. She is being part of this and will be having more answers."

Soon, the room was filled with three definitive lines, members of each universe making their alliances known. Towards the doorway was Ljubica. On one side was the Boss of that dimension, Pierce Washington, and Shaundi. The other held the Italian, Johnny and the sniper.

Mercedes jutted in, "Wait a second," The Italian switched her gazes between Bosses, "_Kinzie_ did this?"

Ljubica smirked. "I am telling you, nerd-girl is being too smart for her own fucking good."

Gat interjected, his hand still possessively around Mercedes' waist-ready to fling her aside and take on any threat, "We knew that. What the hell is going on?"

The Boss' hand raced through her hair agitatedly, a nervous tic, before reaching quickly into her pocket and pulling out a silver flick lighter, striking it on and off absentmindedly. The action seemed to calm her down. Whoever this Russian woman was, she clearly was the one with the answers here.

"... Kinzie huh?" she said lowly, "You could always stop with the cryptic clues and tell us what you know."

"Something about… alternate universes," Ljubica said with a slight cringe, "I am being a bit dark on the details, and I am not knowing whose universe this is being, but it is not being mine."

The sniper's orange hair shifted as he shook his head, and said, "It seems to be hers," He jerked his chin towards the Boss who had Pierce and Shaundi protectively at her side, "We seem to be visitors here." He looked glumly at Shaundi, "Clearly."

Shaundi and Pierce stuck close by their Boss; Pierce's attention moved between Gat and the Russian woman. Shaundi's attention was still primarily on Johnny, but the Boss herself seemed to be purposely avoiding him. She spoke instead to the Russian.

"... Alternate. Fucking. Universes," she said through gritted teeth, before suddenly storming towards the stairs, starting up them to head for her room.

"When I get my hands on fucking Kinzie she is going to have some _fucking_ explaining to do!"

Ljubica chuckled as the woman passed her, "She is still being holed up in her warehouse, yes?"

"Fucking yes she is!" The Boss spat back, then began muttering to herself as she grabbed her faithful rifle.

"Alternate universe my fucking ass..." she muttered to herself, "But if Kinzie's tied up in this, I will feed her to my fucking tiger..."


	4. Fast and the Fucking Furious!

**HeartWritingM: Sorry for taking so long, but as always hope you like it :D**

******Double H: I think y'all are gonna enjoy this. Breakin' the law, breakin' the lawwww...**

**Shadow182Angel: Feel like I should add an AN… but I'm grotesquely sleep deprived…. Er. Enjoy?**

* * *

The Boss' actions caused her crew and the Italian's to erupt into action; Shaundi raced up the stairs after her Boss, punching the button for the elevator and the two women strode in, not waiting for anyone else as they plummeted to the garage. Pierce had split to the armory to get strapped – followed in an instant by Mercedes and her crew, the Italian Boss swearing bitterly in her native tongue as she, Gat and Ryan swept into the service elevator.

The Boss and Shaundi hit the basement first, the former having no questions as for mode of transportation; her precious Bezier waited for her, and in a matter of seconds she was in, Shaundi clambering in shotgun.

In the service elevator, Gat glanced sideward at the Italian at his side.

"Mercy," he started, "You think this shit is for real?"

Mercedes' mouth was a hard line, "I don't know what to think. That… _thing_ that happened when we jumped, the Planet Saints the… those others…" she scowled, a small crease forming at the center of her regal brow, "Fuckit. We're sorting this shit out."

The men either side of her wouldn't question the Italian's certainty. As the doors slid open, they were greeted by the sound of screaming tires as a Bezier bolted out of the garage.

* * *

"Fuck and shit," Ljubica growled, realizing she was now alone. The elevator to the garage was gone, and so she ran to the door, jerking it open.

"Shit is going down," she told her crew. "Lin, you are knowing where I am being, try to be keeping up."

"Boss what the hell is-…" Lin began, but her Boss was already gone, rushing for a closet and jerking open. It was where _she_ kept the spare parachutes, and sure enough there were there.

Ljubica shouldered on a parachute pack and ran for the door leading to the helipad. With a whooping cry of joy, she threw herself out into the air, arms cast wide in a swan dive, and dove for the streets below. Squinting against the rushing air as she tucked her arms in close, she saw a white Kaneda cruising down the road, and she angled towards it, rocketing through the night.

As the clearly-insane Russian woman fell through the air, she neared her target and pulled the ripcord, chute deploying and jerking her up. She adjusted the controls, sliding down through the sky towards the speeding motorcycle. As she landed on the back seat, she shrugged out of the pack, the parachute wrapping around a blue Criminal that careened into the car next to it, horns blaring and metal crunching.

"I am needing lift, comrade!" Ljubica called, dumping the poor bastard onto the street and doing a little hop forward into the rider's seat. She wrapped the throttle around, and the superbike's constant-rate transmission let the Kaneda's electronic-sounding engine stick in the power band as it wailed around the corner. As she neared the next intersection, a purple Bezier and Kenshin went shrieking past in front of her, and she leaned over into a turn, coming in behind them.

The Boss' knuckles were white over the steering wheel as she swerved expertly through the traffic, abusing the gears of the car. Shaundi frowned gently at the woman; of all the shit that had been going down lately, this was the last thing she needed.  
"Boss... you think any of this is actually true?" Shaundi ventured, "I mean... Johnny was-"  
"I don't know Shaundi. But if Kinzie's got answers…" The Boss didn't allow herself to finish the sentence.

Mercedes Lucario rode hard, refusing to be beaten by someone who'd had the sheer audacity to throw a _fucking table at her_. She wove past several cars as she gained on the Bezier, wringing the Japanese motorcycle for all it was worth.

"Wish I had my Estrada," she lamented. "And not this damned Ronin rice rocket."

As they reached the highway, Ljubica cut to the right, riding up alongside the speeding supercar, waiving as she passed the pair of women inside it and cutting them off. She sped off down the highway away from them.

"Like hell," the Boss growled, flipping the cover off the nitrous switch and punching the bright red button that lay beneath.

Ljubica grunted as she was rammed from behind, swerving precariously to keep from falling over.

_"To, čto der'mo ty sumasšedšaja suka!"_ she yelled over her shoulder. _'What the shit you crazy bitch!'_

As the Bezier screamed up behind her again, Ljubica grabbed a handful of front brake, bringing the rear wheel up off the ground in a stoppie. The supercar's hood was low, and it bumped the front wheel first, bouncing her up into the air over the top of it. As she slammed back down to the pavement, the Russian woman twisted the throttle, forcing the machine to rebalance as it screamed back into the chase.

Chuckling, Mercedes had used the time she'd been ignored to pull ahead. She pulled a pipe bomb and flicked the fuse, tossing it under a green Churchill. The bomb went off, sending the heavy car flipping and tumbling through the air to the cackle of the Italian.

"Boss!" Shaundi shrieked, cowering and covering her head.

The Boss narrowed her eyes, cutting the wheel _just so_ and the cartwheeling car sailed just over the roofline, missing them by inches.

"Woo!" Shaundi cried. "That one made my butthole pucker!"

The Boss just smirked, flicking a paddle and shifting into a higher gear.

Ljubica ducked against the handlebars as the flaming wreck soared overhead. _"Ser'ezno!?"_ _'Seriously!?'_

"Whoa, fuck all that shit," Johnny said with a chuckle, driving around the burnt out hulk of a car. "Those women are crazy, I think we should hang back an' enjoy the fireworks."

"You think?" Ryan asked, chuckling.

Carver Island was head, and the three Saints sped off the bridge to Bridgeport neck and neck, two motorcycles and a supercar. Cars honked, sliding and crashing to avoid the three vehicles as they whipped through intersection after intersection.

As the ladies blew past a speed trap in New Baranec, a Steelport PD Peacemaker light up his lights, pulling out and giving chase. Two Steelport PD Kenshins joined him, sirens blaring in cacophony with the police cruiser.

Glancing over her shoulder, Ljubica frowned. She sped up alongside Mercedes, looking over at her Italian counterpart.

"How about you be doing something useful and be getting those pigs off our backs with one of your bombs?" Ljubica called.

"I do not take orders from you," Mercedes retorted, swerving at the Russian woman to make her point.

_"Suka!"_ Ljubica grated, avoiding the other motorcycle instinctively. _'Bitch!'_

"Boss, we got company!" Shaundi called, looking over her shoulder.

"I see 'em, Shaundi," the Boss told her. "Get ready to open fire."

The Boss cut the wheel, punching the gas. The Bezier's rear tires screeched, the car whipping around in a 180 and she put it into neutral. She and Shaundi leaned their assault rifles out their respective windows, firing on full auto into the hood and windshield of the Peacemaker until the engine burst into flames. The driver swerved into one of the Kenshins, taking both vehicles out in a massive explosion that sent the final police motorcycle swerving into oncoming traffic where it struck a Mule.

The Boss spun the wheel sharply, flicking the supercar into gear and pressing the accelerator to the floor as it spun to face the right direction again. She thumbed the nitrous, her Bezier's engine shrieking towards the redline. She flipped the paddle shifter, shifting up a gear as she caught back up to the two motorcycles entering Yearwood and turning northwest, following the road towards the Arena.

As the road turned fully north, there was an intersection, and each woman thought she knew the best way around the Steelport Arena. Ljubica leaned to the left, Mercedes took the right, and the Boss, grinning, shot straight ahead.

As the Boss hit the streets just outside the Arena, she put her Bezier into drift, tires screeching and engine screaming as the supercar slid around the road surrounding the sporting events center, crowds of milling people running and leaping out of the way. She ran over several mascots, including one dressed as Professor Genki, before the road turned straight again, the back end of the supercar jerking as it gained traction again, speeding down the road to the cries of the injured in it's wake.

Ljubica wrung the Kaneda out for all it was worth, noting a slight hesitation in the throttle. Still, she pushed the motorcycle on, heedless of any damage being done to it.

Mercedes leaned her Kenshin over hard, shrieking around a corner and narrowly avoiding several pedestrians. She mercilessly flogged the Japanese motorcycle, revving it way past the redline before shifting, almost as if she was seeking to damage it. But it kept giving her everything it had, and as she turned back into the main road, there was that damned Russian woman already turning onto it.

To both the foreign women's shock, however, the Boss' Bezier was _ahead_ of them, already on the highway.

Ljubica wrapped the throttle all the way around, and Mercedes dropped two gears, doing the same, both superbikes wailing into the night in pursuit of the other vehicle. The Russian's Kaneda was faster, and she pulled ahead, slowly gaining on the purple Bezier. Then she grinned darkly to herself.

Ljubica raced ahead of a Peterliner hauling a trailer, pulling a spare magazine from her pocket. She didn't need a hand to use the non-existent clutch on a Kaneda. She thumbed a few bullets free and tossed them over her shoulder, shattering the windshield of the huge truck. The driver panicked, swerving, and slid to a stop sideways across the highway, narrowly avoiding tipping over.

Mercedes Lucario, utterly undeterred, threw the sport bike into a slide, dumping it over onto it's side and using it like a surfboard on it's frame sliders, slipping just under the trailer amidst a shower of sparks. With a grunt, she heaved the bike back up onto its wheels, wringing the throttle out again and thumbing the nitrous to regain lost ground.

Johnny laughed as he slowed to drive around the blockade. "I do love that woman."

"Really?" Ryan asked with a smirk. "I couldn't tell."

"Look who's talkin' Mr. 'put me in the sharpshooter' Shaundi," Johnny shot back.

Ryan laughed. "Keep your eyes on the road."

Johnny's eyes swung back to driving, and he swerved suddenly, avoiding a slow-moving red Solar.

"Holy shit did you see that?" Shaundi cried, staring back over her shoulder.

"A little busy, Shaundi," the Boss deadpanned, swerving around slow moving traffic as the Russian raced up behind her. She glanced up in the rearview, frowning. "Those two are really pissing me off."

As they left the highway and entered Stanfield, Mercedes had caught up, and all three vehicles screamed down the road, kicking up sparks and streaming trails of smoke from their engines, but the three women at the controls paid no mind to the damage.

They were here to win. Pain is only temporary, glory is forever.

Up ahead, a Steelport Municipal and a beat up Mule were taking up both lanes. Ljubica sped ahead, Mercedes on her tail, and both motorcycles split the gap between the vehicles amidst a litany of honking and profanity from angry drivers.

"Boss?" Shaundi asked nervously.

"I got this," the Boss told her. She swerved at the last moment, ramming her car up onto the sidewalk, jostling both of them violently as the tires and wheels smashed against the curb. But they did hold up against the abuse, resistant as they were.

All three speeding vehicles turned off the main road, racing through the warehouses near the docks. The Bezier screamed around the corner, sliding to an abrupt stop as the trunk crashed into a dumpster just as the others arrived.

Mercedes and the Russian made it to Kinzie's at the same time, but at different positions; Mercedes was throwing herself from her stolen motorcycle, as the vehicle was about to impact the wall. Ljubica slid it tire-first into the same wall, and both had nasty road-rashes going up their shins and arms. Both women stood up as fast as they could, and, in perfect unison shouting at each other.

"I beat you, bitch!"

There was an odd tense silence around the dock, before the jacked black Criminal holding the rest of Mercedes' crew slid in behind the Bezier, and Johnny, with a whoop, jumped from the tray with the sniper.

"Surprised you got here so fast on those crotch rockets," The Boss shot at her interdimensional counterparts as Shaundi slipped elegantly from the car.

Mercedes rejoined her crew, smirking at the Boss. "If you can't keep up, stop trying," she cooed.

A moment later, a purple venom pulled up far more gracefully into the lot, and a very disgruntled Pierce stepped out, scowling.

"Yo thanks for fuckin' waiting."

The Boss stuck unusually close to Shaundi and gave only brief glances to the other crews; the moment her gaze landed on Johnny, so close and protective to a stranger her insides twisted painful and she looked away. _You'll figure this out..._ she promised herself.

Moments later a stock, beat-up old Voxel screeched to a halt behind the rest of the cars. Both doors opened, and a very pissed off Lin stood up out of the driver's side.

"Boss, what the fuck was that about?" she growled. "You leap off a fucking building…"

Ljubica rubbed the back of her head. "I was being in hurry. You caught up, I was knowing you would. Best fucking street racer out of Chinatown, remember?"

Lin didn't look placated. "I barely kept your crazy ass in sight."

Ljubica only grinned.

Shaundi and Pierce both frowned at the unknown Asian woman, but the voice and face were hauntingly familiar to the Boss. She blinked, slowly taking a step forward.

"... It can't be..." she mumbled.

At the sight of the other two, Mercedes became detached from everything else. "...Carlos?"

Carlos looked from one woman to another, confused. "Should I know you?" he asked, the last syllable hinted with genuine concern.

Lin took stock of the situation and the unfamiliar faces. "So, Boss, which one of them is you?" she offered dryly to the petite Russian woman.

The Boss took a sudden step forward, her hand racing to the chain and pendants that hung faithfully around her neck when she heard Mercedes say his name.

"Carlos…" she parroted, her jaw dropping. It was somehow more believable; she'd seen Carlos come back before... however now he seemed whole.

Pierce and Shaundi, unable to recognize Lin, were staring in astonishment as the young Hispanic man.

"This is getting seriously fucked up," Pierce decided, announcing what was on pretty much everyone's mind.

Carlos' attention was taken by the other woman, the Boss of that world, her movement catching his eye.

"That necklace…" he whispered, looking up into her pale blue eyes for a moment, then to Ljubica, "Boss?"

Lin put a hand on her hip, looking between Carlos and the woman he was gawking at. "Well, I think we know who one of them is," she said sardonically.

Mercedes couldn't be as collected; if Johnny wasn't there, the Italian knew she would've fallen as Gat himself looked wide-eyed at the Hispanic. Ryan was star struck. Mercedes had a vice-grip on Johnny's hand as she desperately tried to get a hold on herself.

Carlos was alive.

The Boss blinked at Carlos and Lin, surprisingly at ease, taking one or two more steps towards the Voxel, a faint smile over her mouth.

"Christ. You look good for a dead man," she said lowly; seeing Carlos come back a second time was surprisingly no trouble.

Carlos grinned. "You're pretty hot yourself."

The Boss blinked and flushed, looking quickly over to the Asian woman.

"I'm guessing you're… really Lin then?" she breathed.

"I am," Lin purred.

Ljubica shook her head. "Ladies, we have important things to be doing."

Mercedes cleared her throat and made for Kinzie's garage door, "I second that."

"I wouldn't mind figuring this all out," the Boss agreed very quickly, turning and following after Mercedes, instinctively overtaking the woman. Letting go of Gat's hand, the Italian moved faster to go in-step with the other woman and together, they swept open the garage door.

Mercedes roared to the inside, "KINZIE KENSINGTON."

Pierce and Shaundi held back a little and stuck close, wary of the strangers and desperately trying to work out what was happening. Without so much as a knock, the Boss loudly slammed the doors open to the inner sanctum, her expression mostly deadpan if not for the thunder in her eyes.

"... Kinzie dear?" she greeted, and the small read headed woman spun on her stool,

jaw dropping in a silent squeak when she saw the Boss, next to her inter-dimensional counterpart. Both were glaring daggers at her.

Lin and Carlos fell into step at Ljubica's flanks, and she led them into the Inner Sanctum. Ljubica waved at the redhead. "Hello, Kinzie. It is so nice to be seeing you again."

Mercedes' deep pits of eyes stared like a demon's to Kinzie, "You have thirty seconds to explain. Go."

She flinched at the black-eyed woman's verbal bitch slap before the Russian began pressing on her.

"Now, what in fuck has happened?" Ljubica glowered, "I know you and Kinzie are being behind this."

The screen behind the hacker flashed, the Russian's Kinzie's own image flashing up on the screen.

"_I can help explain!_" the interdimensional Kinzie blurted, her real-world counterpart nodding quickly. Ljubica stared hard at the computer monitor.

"Kinzie" she drawled, drawing the name out irritably, "What in fuck has happened!?"

Each Kinzie started speaking then, sharing each others sentences;

"You see, what happened was-"

"_I discovered the multiverses and, well, c'mon it's a hell of a discovery, so I tried getting in contact with myself-_"

"And that was when she contacted me, and I was so amazed at what she'd managed to do-"

"_She agreed to help me with trying inter-dimensional jumps._"

The Boss quietly pinched the bridge of her nose.

"And then?" she sighed heavily. The Kinzies continued to gush.

"Well, you know, we succeeded-"

"_Cos two Kinzies are better than one-_"

"But it appeares to have caused some..."

"_Rifts._"

There was a deathly silence in the room after that, broken only by the Russian Boss.

"See ladies? I am not lying," Ljubica told them.

The Boss continued to glare at the two Kinzies. "You know," she started coolly, "I'm hearing a lot of words but not much as to what the fuck is going on here."

Ljubica frowned. "I was not knowing anything about fucking rifts, though. Damn it Kinzie I told you not to be playing with this shit…"

"Well, you technically said not to bring any of the other world Bosses into our dimension," Kinzie prodded slyly. Behind the real world Kinzie, the screen split again, a third Kinzie popping up. The third Kinzie on the screen nodded swiftly,

"_And that's where I sort of come in-_"

"There are too many Kinzies here," the Boss growled, glaring at the screen. Ljubica frowned and strode to the computer monitor, tapping roughly at the third Kinzie.

"What in fuck did you do, nerd-girl?"

"_I started detecting the rifts and tried to ride them, it's what opened up our multiverse to theirs_," she said pointedly at Mercedes before chewing her bottom lip nervously.

"_I had meant to try and transport myself but... the rift was... err... displaced. And may or may not have interfered with the other Kinzies work_."

"Consequently," the real world Kinzie offered up, "Each one of you got caught in a rift and was brought here... we're still working out the how and why though. So, Boss..." she said, looking to her own Boss directly, "These two women are you. From alternate universes. Like the DC comic books."

Ljubica rubbed at her forehead with her index finger and thumb. "My brain is hurting."

"That happens every time I talk to this woman," the Boss grumbled back to the Russian, then glanced sideward at Mercedes. "... So that's me if I was a black eyed ungodly bitch?" she said, though the tone made it _almost_ sound like a compliment.

Ljubica chuckled, but Mercedes only raised a sleek eyebrow at the baby blues of this dimension's Boss.

"You _are_ an ungodly bitch," Pierce muttered back to his Boss but it was said with a hint of admiration and a friendly smile.

Mercedes smirked at the other woman, and said, "Black-eyed not by choice, I assure you..."

"So how do we fix this?" the Boss said impatiently, her mind unwilling to deal with the details of the complication right then, "This isn't a fucking bed-and-breakfast."

Kinzie glanced to Kinzie who looked nervously at Kinzie.

"_That's the thing..._"

"_We can detect the rifts-_"

"But can't really control them."

"Well fuck and shit," Ljubica grumbled.

"So what, we run all over the city trying to find a random wormhole to shove these guys through?" the Boss growled angrily.

Ryan muttered, "Fucking wonderful."

Ljubica glanced at Lin and Carlos. "Kinzies, I am having important shit to be dealing with right now. I am not having time for this!"

"That's an understatement," Lin mused, smirking

At this the Boss glanced with a frown at the Russian, "Why, what's happening where you're from?"

Ljubica growled, "Some assholes are trying to be taking Stilwater from me, and I am needing to be getting my Johnny back from some bitch who thinks she can be taking him from me. This came at really bad fucking time."

She blinked, then nodded slowly, if not totally understanding, "We all got duties. We'll get you home,"

Pierce did a double take at his Boss, nudging her, "You're buying this shit?"  
"Pierce, there's been a lot of strange shit that's gone down in my life. Alternate dimensions and Kinzie being a fucktard are really quite plausible to me."

Mercedes spoke up to the Russian, "In my world, my adopted son is undoubtedly watching my gang. But we were going to search for Killbane."

Ljubica barked a laugh. "Killbane is being one of those assholes."

The Boss nodded knowingly to Mercedes at that. "What I was working on myself. But considering what's happening now... Killbane might just have to go on the backburner."

"No difference there," Johnny snorted.

"We will have to set aside our differences, for now," Mercedes said warily at the other woman.

The Boss pinched the bridge of her nose again.

"So, Kinzie," she began wearily. "They're stuck here till you and Kinzie, _and_ Kinzie, can lock down these... _rifts._ And we don't know how long it'll take. And their home worlds are stuck without them? Jesus... what to do now?"

A short silence fell, before Pierce shrugged. "Broken Shillelagh anyone?"

"Fuckoff Pierce," the Boss growled.

"I dunno Boss, I could use a drink or ten," Shaundi agreed, the stress clearly eating away at her at seeing Carlos and Johnny again.

"Fine by me," Johnny said, smirking at the sniper. "I still owe Ryan a game of darts since I've been back."

"Broken Shillelagh it is then..." the Boss sighed, then glanced to the women either side of her, "... Ready set go?"

Mercedes let out a low smiling growl in response, enjoying an actual challenge. "It is being on!"


	5. Best Friends Forever

The Shillelagh was empty save for two booths, and a lone waitress hovered between the bartender and the tables; the Boss from here had bought the place out for the night. The three Bosses sat at one booth, Ljubica across from Mercedes and the other one, and their Lieutenants at the other. Tensions were high at the Lieutenants' table, though the Bosses seemed oddly at ease with one another.

The Boss observed her 'other selves' thoughtfully; over the years her life had become increasingly bizarre but even now a small part of her had to wonder if this was all some sort of twisted, elaborate trick.

But her gaze then involuntarily fell on the Lieutenants table, and consequently on Lin, Carlos… and Gat. She never thought seeing him could actually be so painful, but he looked at her like a stranger. She had to remind herself that she technically was.

"So. These other universes you come from…" she started, tearing her eyes away from the other table and back to Mercedes and Ljubica, "How did… _they_ survive?" she finished quietly.

The Italian considered her question thoughtfully; it probably wasn't healthy to keep things from herself, she thought amusedly. She ran a hand through her black locks, the strands curling around her tattooed fingers. She had just come out of the story of Gat's survival, and there had been a silent understanding between members of her crew back home to never speak of her...employment period working for the other team. But here...Mercedes knew she'd best tell the truth.

Her voice was flat. "Gat had survived the crash in my universe, bargained to one of my oldest enemies and then used as leverage." Mercedes cleared her throat at the recent memory of what happened _afterward. _"Went through hell and back, did some things I'm not too proud of, and came out of it with my _family _in one piece." Her black eyes glared at the other two, uncaring as to their opinion. "End of story, case closed, the end."

She smirked a little to herself. _Not the entire truth._

Ljubica chewed her lower lip somewhat apprehensively. "Is being... strange story for

"Lin and Carlos," she explained carefully, not really sure how much to reveal. She took a long drink from her beer to buy some more time to consider her options. She could outright lie, tell there whole truth, or just some of it.

"Lin and Carlos were being brought back to world of living by some bitch to be killing me," she said flatly. "Obviously was not working as she was planning."

The Boss nodded slowly at both explanations, sensing the others reluctance to elaborate. Fair enough; she was a secretive person, it was unsurprising her 'other selves' would be too.

"Voodoo's a bitch like that," she grumbled, thinking back to her own Carlos' 'return'.

"Something like that," Ljubica agreed, glancing at her Lieutenants for a moment.

Mercedes shifted uncomfortably at the word 'voodoo'. She'd found out some interesting things about herself in recent months, but anything that even remotely touched that side of dark, the Italian would rather not talk about.

The Boss took a long drink from her wine, swirling the red liquid a moment.

"Guess I'm just curious. I mean we're…" she indicated between the three of them, "Pretty different. Not that I really get how any of this dimensional-shit is supposed to work, but they all seem much the same."

"Different," Mercedes repeated, letting out a dry laugh. "That's one way to put it."

From her boot, she drew a cigar and from her pocket, a small square lighter. She placed it between her teeth and flicked it ablaze, drawing out heavily. The smoke swirled her head like a gray halo.

Ljubica chuckled. "Do not be asking me, hell if I am knowing how this shit is working, either. Maybe… something..."

The Russian woman furrowed her brow as she trailed off. "Fuck it. Is simply being how it is, I am guessing. Maybe nerd-girls will be telling us why."

The Boss took another aggressive mouthful of wine, clearing the glass and almost instantly filling it again with the bottle that sat in the middle of the table.

"I suppose there should be some ground rules set," she began, letting her mind retreat into the comfort of pragmatism, "It's probably best you stay at the HQ. And for your crews to stay out of sight… might cause a bit of turbulence otherwise."

"Agreed. And we are needing names, I am thinking," Ljubica said dryly. "We cannot be calling all of us _Boss_ and I am sure none of us will be using real names, yes?"

"Aliases," Mercedes muttered around her cigar. "I only have one and it's too close for comfort."

The Boss lazily drew her pack of cigarettes from her back pocket, taking one between her lips and striking up a flame with a sliver lighter.

"Hey, namesh're nh pruhbl'm," she mumbled over her smoke, blowing a fine cloud away, "Russia?" she offered with a careless shrug.

Ljubica chuckled. "I like it, is fitting, I am thinking. Johnny named me Crazy Ivana back when I was first in Saints."

She peered at Mercedes for a moment, noting the tattoos and those eerie eyes. "Scales!" she proclaimed proudly. "You are looking like snake!"

The Boss gave a curt nod, "Yep. Scales. Done."

"At least it's not a car," The Italian joked lightly. Her black eyes moved to the Boss. "Long hair, piercing eyes, slightly pale and an attitude to match...Medusa, if I'm not mistaken."

Ljubica quirked a wry smile. "Medusa."

The Boss felt her expression fall.

"A Gorgon. Thanks." She dragged on her cigarette again and smirked after a moment, "Guess it's not so bad, actually..."

"Turning enemies to stone with ice cold glare," Ljubica said dramatically.

Mercedes inhaled sharply, speaking out the smoke with a snake's grin. "Think of it as a compliment." Her black eyes twinkled. "As Russia said, I'm the real snake here. You're the one that pissed off Athena because you thought you were too damn beautiful."

The Boss crinkled her nose, "I'm not vain..."

Ljubica chuckled. "We are not being Boss because of pretty looks," she said, grinning at them.

Mercedes laughed, the smoke trickling out from her white teeth. "Certainly not me. Although they tell me my eyes are devilish…"

"Your eyes are fucking creepy," Ljubica retorted, but she was still grinning.

"Present from Stilwater Pen," Mercedes said, her smile fading from her face. "The only good part is that no one can tell when I roll my eyes at them."

"The only thing I got from Stilwater Pen was this," The Boss offered, tilting her read forward and rapping her knuckles over the back of her skull – it made a dull metallic _tang_ when she did.

"Hollow?" Mercedes quipped lightly.

The Boss gave the Italian woman a long, dark look, deciding not to bother with correcting her.

"Wiser because of him," the Boss said quietly, "Even if it was a hard lesson." _That you can never truly trust anyone_, she thought.

Ljubica glowered at no one in particular. "Fucking Julius._Mudak_."

"_I codardi muoiono molte volte prima della loro morte reali."_Mercedes hissed bitterly, her voice holding eerie resemblances to that of a cobra's.

Ljubica rolled her eyes. "I am not wanting to be talking about dead assholes anyway…"

Mercedes knew what she was talking about; Julius had taken her in on one of the hardest nights of her life mentally and emotionally. Even if he had robbed her of her father's eyes-the last thing she knew of him, the Italian still owed him.

"Neither am I," She said at last. "The past is the past. I came, I saw, and I conquered."

_I wasn__'__t the one who brought him up_, The Boss thought to herself darkly, but was beginning to think it would be a good idea not to antagonise her other selves too much. They were stuck here, which meant she'd be stuck with them for god knows how long. She glanced at her phone and felt an annoyed frown pull at her mouth.

"I think until we know more, we better head back to headquarters."

Ljubica finished her beer, setting the bottle aside. "_Da_, is good idea."

Mercedes nodded, stubbing out her cigar. "Agreed. Think we can make it back without leaving trail of destruction this time, ladies?"

The Boss, now dubbed 'Medusa' gave a smirk around her cigarette.

"C'mon. Where's the fun in that?"

#

Rooms in the HQ were divvied up as appropriately as they could be; naturally, each crew stuck close to their own Boss.

When Ryan opened the door to Mercedes and Gat's 'room', he wasn't sure if he should be relieved or worried; Mercedes was pacing determinedly back and forth along a narrow stretch of hard wood between the bed and the window, her hands clasped behind her back and her eyes narrowed at the floor like it had personally done her wrong. Gat was on the bed, sprawled out and comfortable, his eyes glancing to the sniper in the doorway before returning to nervously watch the Italian walk.

Then she stopped, her black gaze focused on the box in Ryan's hands. "You got it?"

"Yeah," He confirmed, his eyebrows drawing together as she took it from him and went to the bed beside Johnny, tearing it open. "Although I fail to see how cigars are going to help our present situation."

Mercedes shot him a look, drawing one from the box and digging in her pockets for a lighter. She lit it, trapped it between her teeth and drew one long breath in. "Ahhh. Parodi." Her eyes flickered to the sniper again. "It helps me think."

"So," Johnny started, sitting up and pretzeling his legs, his eyes shielded by a glare in his glasses. "What're we gonna do about this shit?" He moved his pointer finger in a circle, indicating the three of them as a group.

The sniper looked around, spying a chair before a desk. He flipped it around, straddling the back and sat down, his and Gat's eyes trained on their Boss. The Italian hummed under her breath, her leg bouncing as she thought. With two spidery fingers, she moved her cigar from her lips and uncaringly flicked ash onto the floor.

"All I see is this…" She said at last, her voice low and calculating. "There are two other women in this building claiming to be me, a Carlos that doesn't know me, and a Shaundi that doesn't know you."

Ryan could feel her eyes on him; it was a customary and familiar thing for her Saints, they _knew _when she was looking at them. Like her gaze was a veil of lead being thrown over them. Still, he couldn't help but feel his hands tighten into fists at the last part Mercedes said. Shaundi, who'd been so much a part of him, now suddenly had never heard his name before. She looked like Shaundi, she talked like Shaundi-she even sometimes _looked _at him like Shaundi, but the sniper was at a strange loss.

She wasn't Shaundi…She wasn't _his _Shaundi. The one he married.

Gat's nose wrinkled at the Hispanic's name; after all this time, Mercedes still had that distant, pensive glint in her expression at the thought of Carlos. She'd seen him today, and Johnny had to support her to keep her standing. The way he looked at her was the same that Gat himself had given this dimension's Boss. Like looking at someone that thought they knew you, but you had no clue who the hell they were supposed to be. Johnny knew that he had to keep Mercedes strong and sane, the very thing he'd done after their Carlos had died.

"We have two options," Mercedes voiced, squaring her shoulders. "We either cooperate, play their game and watch our backs…or we kill them."

"We've been doing the first option so far," Johnny reminded her, and when she looked at him, he rose his eyebrows knowingly, "What do you want us to do if the second option becomes the only one?"

The sniper flitted from Gat to his Boss, wishing he could read the silent messages they often sent each other. He cracked his neck, the rifle between his shoulder blades shifting a little. A part of his brain cherished this moment, though; the Italian had only been back a week, and this was the first time the three of them were together as the indomitable triumvirate after being separated for so long.

"The fact that Carlos and Lin are alive proves they aren't normal," The Italian reasoned, speaking through smoke, "We can't let them get too close-"

Ryan cut in, nodding, "-you want me to take them out from afar."

"If you wouldn't mind," Mercedes said, and after a moment, a playfully dangerous twinkle came out in her eyes. "You sure you can shoot your old friends in the back? I mean," The corner of her mouth twitched, "I know how it sits in a heart."

"She's not the Lin we knew, that's for sure," He said, smirking, "Our Lin took my jabs with some grace." Ryan paused, his smirk turning to a stare at the Boss. "If you two will deal with the others."

_The others meaning Shaundi_, The Italian corrected to herself grimly. "Of course."

"And in the meantime?" Johnny pressed, bravely taking the cigar from Mercedes' mouth and stealing a quick drag.

Mercedes stole the cigar back, a half-smile crossing her face. "Hey, we don't have much reason not to trust Medusa and Russia-" the two men blinked at the nicknames, but she didn't pay them any mind. "-so we'll stick with the first option for now."

The sniper stood after the three of them shot each other agreeing looks. He stretched, uttering a tired yawn. "Alright, now that that's settled-this guy is heading to bed."

He was halfway out the door when Mercedes' voice made him turn back, meeting her obsidian eyes with his electric blue ones.

"Get some rest; we're all going to need it."

#

Ljubica stood by the window, looking out into the night. Her thoughts were troubled as she watched the city life play out below.

"You're worried, I know that look," Carlos told her. Lin stayed quiet, only watching.

"Johnny is being stuck in control of bitch," the Russian woman sighed. "Saints are being without me. We are being stuck here and may not be able to be going home…"

Carlos put a hand on her shoulder, marveling that she didn't flinch. She'd come a long way from when he was alive. "It'll work out."

"I don't trust these people," Lin admitted. "Not one fuckin' bit. What shit do they have to give about what happens to us? I say we bail and figure this out on our own, we don't need 'em."

"What?" Carlos asked quickly. "They recognize us, surely you saw that."

"But we're not the ones they remember," Lin shot back, undeterred. "Their Lin and Carlos are _dead_. All we are is trouble to the Boss here, and it'd be easier to just get rid of us in a hole somewhere."

"Or the trunk of a car and dumped in the water," Carlos retorted.

Ljubica turned suddenly, putting herself between them. Lin looked livid, ready to tear into him, and the Russian woman put out a hand to keep her away. "Lin is having point. I am knowing they are who they are supposed to be, I have been seeing them on our Kinzie's computer, and I have been meeting Medusa's Kinzie before. But there were times when ah, _drive_ to Kinzie's warehouse was being rather violent between us."

"That's what I'm talkin' about," Lin fumed. "We're _not_ all friends here. I say we leave, tonight, and don't look back."

"And how will we get home?" Carlos asked heatedly. "How do we do that without her resources, Lin?"

"We take 'em if we have to," Lin replied darkly. "By whatever means necessary."

"_Nyet,"_ Ljubica interrupted. "Only as last resort. Medusa is seeming amenable to be helping us, so we only are killing them if absolutely necessary. You are understanding, Lin?"

"Fine," Lin growled. "We'll play it your way for now, Boss. But if either of them so much as look at you funny I'm gonna do somethin' violent."

#

"If shit goes down I'll just dump their bodies in a hole somewhere," The Boss said dismissively, leaning back in her office chair. Pierce's mouth was pulled into a hard line across his face. He leant against the desk and was even considering taking one of the cigarettes the Boss was currently dragging back on. A plume of pale blue smoke billowed from her lips, her eyes just as distant and hazy.

"I don't like'em staying here," Pierce finally said and the Shaundi nodded slowly, recrossing her legs.

"Better them staying here where we can keep an eye on them," the Boss replied evenly, "Aside from the black-eyed one, none of them have given us any reason not to trust them."

"That… Johnny and Carlos," Shaundi said softly, "It's not really them. They don't know you."

"Like you don't know that Ryan guy?" The Boss suggested as quietly and Shaundi shrugged.

"I guess."

A tense silence fell; Shaundi was edgy, her foot bouncing and her lips twisting till finally she couldn't hold back what had been niggling at her.

"I still don't get how you're okay with this," she suddenly snapped, leaning forward, "With him being here sleeping in a room with anoth-"

"Watch your mouth," the Boss said coldly and Shaundi scowled, hurt and clearly offended. The Boss took another drag from her cigarette, speaking the smoke away, "Considering we've got _interdimensional invasions_ happening right now, the problems of three little people don't really amount to much."

"A hill'o beans if I'm not mistaken," Pierce offered. Shaundi glared at him, but the Boss was eerily impassive, eyes like ice. Shaundi had seen this reaction before, the Boss shutting down and disappearing behind an almost Vulcan wall of pragmatism, but for the first time she found it infuriating. Just when the Boss was finally starting to show some kind of sign of mourning, like she actually cared or even realised Johnny was gone, and there she was again, sinking away like nothing had happened.

"Whatever. I'm not going to stay here and put up with this shit," she said bitterly, up on her feet and striding from the office, but halted in the doorway, feeling the Boss' frosty, dangerous glare on her back. She glanced over her shoulder, her insides feeling turbulent.

"Call me when you need me," she finished, then disappeared from the room.

There was a thick silence in the study after that, and the Boss leant forward in her chair, resting her elbows on the desk. Eventually she stubbed the cigarette out into the ashtray and looked up at Pierce tiredly.

"I know you had shit to get done tonight," she said coolly and he folded his arms over his chest. She continued, "You don't have to stay. I don't think I'll be getting much sleep tonight anyway."

"You shouldn't be here alone."

"There's plenty of Saints in the building," she shrugged, "And I'm always packin'."

"Boss-"

"It's an order." Her tone was icy, "I need you covering everything, keeping the rest of the crew busy while I clean this shit up."

Pierce heard what she wasn't saying. She wanted to be alone; and he knew if he or Shaundi stayed they wouldn't be able to leave her alone. The Boss flicked her lighter out, cracking a flame on and off like a bad habit.

"Aiight. You keep me posted, on _everything_," he pressed, leaning off the desk and heading out of the office. And the Boss was alone again, quietly reveling in the silence as she worked through her thoughts.


	6. It'll Be a Good Bonding Experience

Kinzie held her head in her hands, squeezing her eye shut. "This is useless," she allowed herself to groan, glaring up at the monitor before her, which displayed a full map of Steelport. Every minute or so, a small flash would appear somewhere on the map; sometimes red, sometimes blue, but never lasting for more than a few seconds.

"There's no pattern, no recurring spots…" she mused, hearing a voice crackle faintly in over the speakers.

"_K-zie, did y- get –pple?"_

Kinzie looked quickly over to her portal which flashed and glowed for a moment; the familiar hum began ripping through the air as the light pulses flashed from purple to white; Kinzie's heart raced, before the machine gave a miserable whine, the lights fading away. Nothing came through the almost-rift. She sighed, going to her microphone.

"No," she sighed, "Nothing."

Somewhere in Ljubica's Stilwater, an apple dropped onto the head of a homeless man.

"What about you Kinzie?" she asked, prodding the frequency to Mercedes' universe. The response was a little clearer.

"_Detecting rifts same time as yours, not same locations though-"_

"Dammit," Kinzie growled, trying to take stock. So far the following tears between the universes had been fleeting and tiny, nothing else seemed to have come through. If they could get a fix on a recurring wormhole or predict where they'd be, they might be able to keep it open long enough to get everyone home.

"I'm getting interference around them though, it's almost like this world knows they don't belong here," she said cryptically, pinching her chin. A sudden beeping on the screen drew her attention; a new indicator, a white one appearing over Arapice Island.

"Are you guys getting that?" she asked

"_Another dimension? Damn, the whole network is destabilising-"_

"_Wh- c-n g-"_

Kinzie's monitors suddenly flashed to black and the haven was plunged into darkness for a moment, before the loud whirr was heard through the building as the system rebooted. Kinzie whipped out her phone, quickly calling the Boss.

"_What?"_ the Boss huffed, sounding like she was running.

"I got a hit on a rift, a big one; it's on Arapice Island-"

"_On it. Keep me posted."_

The Boss ended the call abruptly, snagging her leather biker jacket and not waiting as she dashed out of the gym, a thin sheen of sweat over her brow. She'd barely gotten started, but it looks like she'd be getting some decent exercise in anyway. As she strode to the next room she put her fingers to her lips and let out an ear-piercing whistle.

"Alright people!" she announced to try and rally everyone who was scattered through HQ, "Got a call from Kinzie and there's a rift on Arapice Island, we gotta move _now_. Trouble! Stay!"

The tiger halted at her words and gave her a discontented look, but the Boss was not about to risk her pet getting sucked through a wormhole and lost in another dimension. The Boss didn't wait a second longer as she trotted down the stairs to the weapons store, getting herself strapped, her beloved SR-50 slung over her back.

#

The island was a mess of chaos; the zombies moaned and raced around, leaping at other strange, half-human looking creatures which in turn tried to rip the zombies apart. However the air seemed to shimmer and hum loudly, focused around a few flares of light that barely indicated the huge rift.

The air started to vibrate around them, causing the glass of the buildings to shake – the Bosses looked up in astonishment, as the light from the rift seemed to rip open wider, a huge, scaled claw fighting its way through. A deep demonic screech followed, and the behemoth monster appeared to rip itself through thin air, struggling through the rift. It was a huge creature, perhaps four stories tall and wide as a house, covered in steel like scales, it's thin, lizard-like lips pulled back over rows of shark-like teeth. Its powerful, meaty hand reached out and gripped at a building for leverage, claws digging into the concrete and crushing the glass as it pulled itself through, snarling and screeching.

Ljubica narrowed her eyes as the beast pulled itself through. It was the same sort of rip in reality that had pulled her to this place. Racking the bolt on her borrowed K-8 Krukov, she squeezed down on the trigger.

"Oh hell no," the Boss said with a vicious glare, "Not in my fucking universe!" With that she lifted the sights of her rifle and opened fire, unloading a whole magazine on the thing; the bullets from both assault rifles barely affected the monster and it turned on them, snapping and snarling, swiping out its hands and throwing hordes of zombies out of its way to try and get at the more living targets.

"_Cazzo santo!_" Mercedes hissed, kneeling and firing a burst from her AR-55 at the creature, hunting for a weak point but to no avail. Her annoyance growing like an incoming tide, the Italian got to her feet and viciously yanked Gat to the side, skewing his aim enough to tell him to follow her. She sprinted and leapt, with Gat at her flank, behind cover as the beast flung a fist at them, only justgetting out of the way. Gat swore, climbing to his feet and taking out the pin of a grenade with his teeth before letting that bitch fly. Ryan was a few paces over, using the corner of an alley to pick and choose his times to strike with his ever-faithful sniper rifle.

The Boss' hand came up to click the mode of the rifle over, the gun making a deep thump as a grenade sailed out, striking the monster on the shoulder and exploding. This caught the creature's attention more as it roared in pain, parts of its iron-like scales lifting and showering black blood over the streets below.

"Gotcha-… Oh shit!" she cried, quickly leaping out of the way as a fist the size of a mini van came crashing down onto the road. She started running again, loading up the next grenade and taking aim as the creature turned it's massive body to follow her; as she was about to fire another scaled hand swung around, collecting her in a vice like grip. She was nearly sick with the sudden inertia as it swiftly lifted her into the air, roaring at her.

The Boss struggled against the powerful muscles, trying to take aim with her only free hand – the instant she fired out the grenade the beast roared, an ear-piercing shriek as the grenade exploded against its elbow. Furious, it whirled its whole arm out again, causing the Boss to suddenly shriek as it let her go; her body was a black and purple blur as she was flung through the air, crashing through the second storey window of a nearby building.

"Fuck and shit," Ljubica breathed, seeing Medusa get hurled through the glass. If that woman died, these Saints might not help them; they could be stuck here, or worse. With a heavy thump from her own rifle, she fired a grenade. It blew up next to the monster's ear, but it just roared and seemed to shrug it off.

"Lin, Carlos!" she barked sharply. "Be keeping these fucking zombies off us!"

Mercedes had been trying to distract it, but upon seeing Russia firing grenades and Medusa being thrown into a building... She barely cared. She hollered over her shoulder, "Ryan, find a building and cover us! Gat! Help Lin and Carlos!"

#

The Boss groaned, slowly picking herself up off the ground, shards of glass stuck into her leather jacket.

"Might I say…" she grumbled to herself as she stood up, muscles aching from being squeezed and thrown, "Fucking _ow_."

She began brushing herself, glancing about the long abandoned office, quickly striding over paper and debris back to the window and glaring out; the creature made everything seem miniscule by comparison, and she could see the others trying to bring it down, their backup fending off crazed zombies. She whipped her phone out and mashed the speed dial, gritting her teeth impatiently before Pierce answered.

"_Yo Boss, wh-"_

"Pierce, get the VTOLs out to Arapice Island, now. We got one big motherfucker to take out-"

"_What the fuck is it?"_

"It's… I dunno it's fucking King Kong in a crocodile suit. You'll know it when you see it! Move!"

She hung up, not waiting for further response; her nose crinkled with a scowl and she clambered up into the sill of the window, crouching and tensing her muscles in preparation.

As the monster turned its back on her, she sprung, landing heavily on its back. The scales were slick and metallic though and she scrambled to get a grip, clinging to the spines that ran down the centre of its back, and starting to climb up.

"…Not," she grunted, repeating herself, "In my- universe-"

Without a warning to Gat, Mercedes flung herself from her cover and dug into the ground as she ran at the monster, bounding like a cheetah before leaping onto the calf of this creature. The scales there were rough and coarse, giving her a firm handhold. She gripped them as she scrambled up, a Shepherd between her teeth, her rifle hanging off her shoulder and her pipe bombs dangling from her belt. She made it to the hip of the monster before it tried to swing at her, and Mercedes slid, the monsters claws grazing her thighs.

"Scales!" the Boss called out when she noticed the Italian woman clambering up the monster. She held on to the spines with one hand, reaching out with the other to help pull Mercedes up. The plating on the back of the monster was slippery but so thick it couldn't seem to feel them.

Mercedes removed the Shepherd from her mouth hastily, freeing her teeth to talk. She impatiently blew a strand of black from her eyes. "Pierce, is he on his way?" She growled as her hand missed a handhold, "And secondly, how're we taking this thing down? We can't seem to harm it from the outside!"

"He's coming in the VTOL, I'll give him a minute, tops," the Boss grunted as she continued to pull herself up the creature getting closer to its shoulders, the climb even more slippery as she found parts of it's scales were coated in it's black blood. The bruises on her legs were already showing.

"As for killing this thing… Dammit, everything has a weak spot," she said, then lifted up and showed her palm to Mercedes; it was covered in thick, black demonic blood. "If it bleeds, we can kill it," she said decisively.

Above, there was a low roar of a jet as it screamed past, turning in a wide arc to come back.

"Cavalry," the Boss muttered with a dark smirk.

#

Swearing in her native language, Mercedes looked over to her lieutenants. Ryan had successfully made it to the top of an abandoned Rim Jobs nearby, taking refuge inside the 'o' of the word 'Jobs'. The rifle was up, and that effortlessly perfect aim saved many from injury. Johnny, casting worried glances at the Italian between shots, was mowing down the zombies that approached. He covered the others with a voracious appetite for carnage.

Ljubica cursed her selves for climbing onto the creature and ruining her shot. But she couldn't let them show her up, now could she? Casting a quick glance over her shoulder, she saw Lin, Carlos, and Johnny had the zombies handled. Slinging the Krukov onto her back, she raced forward; dodging passed the beast's rampaging fist and leaping onto its legs, she took roughly the same path Scales had to clamber up the side of their enemy.

Mercedes whooped triumphantly, as she let loose a pipe bomb at the thing's face. "Your mother was a salamander!"

The Beast let out a horrified screech as the bomb shattered into its face, shrapnel filling its open mouth and tearing at the soft, tender flesh inside it.

"SHIT!" The Boss allowed herself to yelp as the beast began twisting wildly, clawing at its face. It was then she got the idea, grinning over at her Italian counterpart, "Scales, you're a fucking genius!" she yelled out over the sound of gunfire and demonic shrieks. She pulled the katana that was faithfully sheathed across her back as she clambered up to the creature's head. It only then became aware of the presence of the small woman.

Ljubica pulled herself up, opening her mouth to voice the same thing Medusa had just said, and grinned. She turned to look at the VTOLs.

"So, we are having fun, yes?" she cackled, eyeing the STAG fighter's and their awesome firepower wistfully.

Ryan reached into his jacket to pull out a bazooka warhead, snapping it into place on his rifle. He thanked his universe's Kinzie for the upgrades. He tapped his earpiece, the one that linked him to the others of his universe, and said, "On your signal, Boss."

Johnny retrieved a handful of grenades from his own belts, throwing himself into the tray of a downed Alaskan nearby and, upon hearing the voice in his earpiece, prepared himself for the go-ahead.

Mercedes smiled at her crew, knowing Medusa had heard it. "You wanna say the word or shall I?"

All of the Italian's Lieutenants aimed for the beast's face. Ljubica shook her head at Scales' question, chuckling. It was about time those two made up.

Mercedes looked to the other two women, knowing that they should do this the right way. "Together. One.."

"Two…" Ljubica drawled.

"THREE!" Medusa roared over her shoulder to her selves, then with a bloodthirsty battle cry, swung around the creature's face bringing the blade slicing into its eye, pressing in hard and deep and twisting the blade. She didn't allow the monster time to react, she simply jumped, sliding down the creature's arm and dropping the final few storeys onto the pavement with a heavy thud, just as the crew opened fire, the VTOL unleashing its missiles from above.

Ryan let his warhead loose, the bomb rocketing through the air before embedding in the creature's neck. Johnny heaved his grenades with a loud yell, and the Italian herself followed Medusa's lead, sliding down before sprinting to the other woman's side, her long legs letting her catch up easily.

"Fuck it," Ljubica growled, taking two steps and throwing herself out into space as the VTOLs opened fired.

_Lin, this would be a great time to look up,_ Ljubica mused to herself, realizing she was much higher in the air than she'd thought.

Something tugged at her, and Lin did look up. "Shit!" She bolted for the beast, a motion so fast it seemed she nearly teleported from one space to another in a blur, and she caught her Boss just before the Russian woman became one with the concrete.

"Gotcha!"

Carlos groaned, shoulders falling. They were supposed to keep that a secret.

Ljubica hurriedly extracted herself from her Lieutenant's arms, offering her a smile. "Thanks, Lin."

"Jesus!" Medusa exclaimed with a breathless laugh, nimbly picking herself up, "How the hell did she move like that?" _They've got some first class voodoo in her realm…_

Behind them, the beast cried out its last few gurgles of agony as it was all but beheaded by the explosions, clawing at its mutilated face. Medusa gave a smile as a beach ball-sized eye rolled past her, the katana still sticking out of it. She jerked it free it and flicked a little goop from the glinting blade before returning it to the saya on her back.

Ryan grinned at the sight below him, and raised his rifle in triumph. Mercedes sprinted straight to Johnny, almost throwing herself at him and he held her tight for a moment, before letting her go.

Johnny looked to his Boss, then to her counterparts, "It won't stay down for long; how're we killin' it?"

Medusa shook her head pensively; the creature was blinded for the moment, and though causing a lot of damage wasn't posing a particular threat that second. But they all knew that couldn't last.

"Clearly it can't be anything superficial. Maybe if we just keep attacking the head till there isn't a head left...?" she offered, trailing off.

"I am not knowing what the fuck it is, it's not being from _my_ world," Ljubica grumbled, unslinging her Krukov and jacking the pump on the grenade launcher.

Mercedes shook her head, her dark hair bouncing. "Neither from mine."

Medusa's lip curled in a snarl, resting her rifle over her shoulder, her eyes cold as she glared at the giant creature, her attention not spared for anything else. It was screeching less and starting to growl, as if already recovering. High above, the VTOL's engines whined as another rocket was unleashed – it struck the creature on its back causing it to stumble forward, but nothing broke through the plated armour. Furious, the creature blindly felt its hands land on a car, which it hurtled into the air. Pierce's loud cuss crackled over all their intercoms, despite the blind shot missing by more than a few car lengths.

"Like I said. If it bleeds, we can kill it. We just gotta hit it harder and blow that fucker's head up."

The air began to tingle and hum again, the rift behind them seeming to fluctuate a second time.

"'Scuse me ladies, but one does not simply blow up the head of Leviathan," a man's voice said.

The Bosses whirled at the voice from behind; a stranger stood before them, the glowing of the rift behind him lessening telling them where he must have come from. He was covered in the tar-like demonic blood, his face was weathered and suggested him to be much older than he actually was; a thick scar ran down his face and neck, the eye it cut through seemed to have been replaced by a beady red bulb cased in metal. His hair was sawn short, and his clothes mostly appearing to be scrapped together leather and plates of armour, though laced with purple flags, telling them he was likely a Saint from somewhere. Maybe he was even one of them, a counterpart they didn't know about.

Most impressive of all was his left arm; or what should have been his left arm. It was raw metal and bionic, with a turret mounted over his forearm. In his other hand he carried a monstrous looking machete, also thickly coated in demon blood.

"I have to apologise for this. Looks like Kinzie made a little mistake with the program," he said with a tired drawl; his voice was low and gravelly, making him sound like he smoked since he was a child.

"Oh for fucking's sake," Ljubica growled. "I am going to be breaking fucking teacups all over Kinzie's _suka_ ass," she promised darkly.

The man seemed to shrug a laugh at the Russian's words.

"You and me both. Looks like I was a bit late getting through the rift - seems to have backfired. Kinzie had been trying to get you all to my dimension," he said with the same tired tone, suggesting he knew far more about the dimensions than anyone else there. Medusa, however, could only give him a cold, deadpan look.

"Well, thank you so very fucking much for the invite," she growled.

Ljubica was suddenly furious, inter-dimensional demon forgotten as she invaded this stranger's personal space, big time. "Our fucking Saints are needing us, you selfish bag of shit!" she spat viciously. She'd told _her_ Kinzie to not do this sort of thing.

Mercedes stared, silent for a moment, but livid. Her voice was like ice. "I have a family, you son of a bitch."

Lin ignored the asshole, keeping an eye on the demon as it recovered. She subtly put herself between her Boss and the enemy. Following Lin's notion, Johnny forcibly put Mercedes behind himself. He held her hand firmly, though.

"If you were in my position, if you knew what I was trying to do to keep my Saints alive, you'd have done the same," he tried to explain unapologetically to the three women, "Your dimensions were the only ones Kinzie could reach."

"Bullshit!" Ljubica barked, anger unabated. "I told my Kinzie to not be bringing any Boss through, not fucking ever!"

"Almost everyone in my crew is already dead. I need that thing destroyed-"

"Or just drop it off into someone else's world and let them deal with it?" Medusa shot back frostily with a glare. But as annoyed as she was, part of her understood. Saints were Saints, any time, any dimension, "You better have some good fucking clues as to how we can kill this thing then,"

"Fuck and shit," Ljubica added as an after-thought, turning to face the demonic beast, "I will be dealing with this shit later. First things are being first-" she moved a few paces away, loading a fresh series of grenades into her rifle's launcher.

High above and Pierce was still trying to keep the creature distracted with the VTOL, just as another shot into view along with an attack chopper, Shaundi leaning out the side of it with a rocket launcher hoisted on her shoulder. If one listened closely, her furious shouts could still be heard over the wind and sound of gunfire.

Ryan had finally made his way to the ground, and as he trotted over to the newcomer, he began to speak quickly, "Look, I have a wife back home that is probably worried sick about me. My Boss has over a thousand Saints depending on her and a son at home watching the fort. If there is any way you can fix this..."

The stranger – the Boss of this own hellish universe, had a moment of good grace and allowed himself to look abashed at the others' accusations. He'd been so concerned for his own Saints that he hadn't considered theirs.

"Destroying the head isn't enough. The thing is build like a jawbreaker, and it can heal itself over time. I've got one idea, but…" he seemed to cringe, "It's not an easy one to-"

"Holy quacking duckshit will you spit it out before that thing recovers?" The Boss shot at him furiously. She'd probably be in better graces if it wasn't _her_ home being invaded. The man blinked at her with some surprise.

"It needs to be destroyed from the inside out," he finished flatly.

"And so you thought what, one of us would be happy being its dinner so to be blowing it up for you?" Ljubica called over her shoulder, aim steady on the thing he called Leviathan. Her thumb ached to press down on the button trigger of the Krukov's grenade launcher again. "Fuck you."

Mercedes haughtily watched the exchange with clenched fists, but at that particular idea, of one of them having to go in the beast itself, she murmured, "You first, asshole."

The man frowned darkly and shook his head.

"I was hoping there wouldn't be a case where I had to resort to that," he growled, "I can't even tell if the attack would work, and if it doesn't kill it in one shot I'd need some bad motherfuckers to finish the thing off. I don't have those resources where I come from, not the way you do."

He paused, "Destroy it, the other demons will eventually wither, and their followers with it."

Medusa had had enough jibber-jabber by that point; the monster was recovering, and it certainly has the potential to go ripping through her city. And hell if that was going to happen.

"Keep making plans then, I'm gonna actually do something about this," she growled, cocking her rifle, checking her grenades and striding down the road towards the beast.

Ljubica grinned in agreement and fired, the thump of her launcher felt in her chest. The grenade sailed through the air into the Leviathan's still-healing eye socket. The explosion ripped through it, causing a glut of ichor and roar of pain.

Mercedes started running, a sprint that easily overtook Medusa in a few strides and made her heart race. The Italian barrelled around a corner and down an alley, using the momentum to hoist herself up to a fire escape. Mercedes paused for a moment when she reached the roof, panting heavily and cursing herself for her smoking, peering out to the beast. It veered dangerously near the building with its disgusting features, and Mercedes waited for only a moment, choosing the next to begin running again. When she got to the edge, she kicked off the cement and made that leap of faith through the air, a whoop scorching up her throat and stolen by the wind.

Her aim had been true, but her leap fell short as the beast turned; the Italian found herself tumbling in the air thirty feet off the ground. Reaching out for what she could, her hand caught on a scale, the whiplash causing a crunch as the bones in her fingers broke around the scale when her hand was bent awkwardly. Mercedes screamed in pain, a sound that caused a roar out of Johnny below as she fought to gain a grip. She battled the pain sensors in her brain, but when the wall of scales suddenly closing in around her in its grip, Mercedes realized exactly where she'd fallen.

The palm of the beast's hand.

She scrambled, frantically before the thing closed it's fist. The Italian felt something sharp- the thing's claw, puncture her thigh and she cried out again. Knowing she couldn't do anything to the hand itself, Mercedes reached for a pipe bomb as the beast drew its hand near its face. She hurled it at it, the bomb live, and as it screamed on impact, it dropped her to the ground.

"NO!" Gat roared, sprinting before she reached the asphalt, catching her roughly in his arms before laying her down gently, bringing his gun to his shoulder. Beside him, the sniper was doing the same with a murderous look. They were a trio, and they would be damned if anything changed that.

The Boss felt her blood run cold when she saw Mercedes; she ran again to the side firing pointedly at the monster's face till its attention was turned away from her.

"Over here asshole!" she bellowed. The Fourth Boss saw his chance, racing to the back of the monster and leaping, beginning the staggering climb up its back. Its large hand swiped at her again and she ducked the first time, but not the second, as again the fingers curled around her.

"That's right asshole, get me in nice and close," she seethed as the monster brought her in closer, it's hot, stinking breath washing over her in waves. She raised her gun and began firing again, bullets slamming into its second eye, causing the orb to pop and shatter with lumps of flesh and pinkish jelly. The demon screeched again, drawing its hand back and she braced herself – however, the swing wasn't in the direction she was expecting as she felt herself racing downwards.

"Wha-? NO! At the building ATTHE_BUIL_-"

CRACK!

That was the sound she made, the air slammed out of her crumpled body as the beast threw her down onto the pavement like a rag doll, concrete cracking around her; she was stunned for a moment, her mind in a blissfully empty place before the pain started niggling at her, then biting, then screaming. Trying to open her eyes and force herself to stay awake, she began to mentally take stock of her injuries by counting the sharp, spreading spots pain over her body.

…_Broken hip…? Foot feels like it's done too… ribs right down the right side and – ouch, yeah definitely shoulder. Could take a while to fix… that is if I can even get out of this fucking street…_

She tried shifting her body and lifting her head with a slight groan, feeling something wet and warm leaking from her ears, then tiredly let her head drop back down, resisting the urge to close her eyes.

"Medusa!" Ljubica shouted, sprinting towards her fallen comrade and ticket home. "Lin, Carlos! Be getting her out here!" She fired a grenade up at the massive demon-creature to keep it at bay. Ljubica spared a glance over her shoulder, seeing Carlos gently pick the fallen woman up and carry her away, shielded by Lin.

"All right you bag of shit," Ljubica growled, jerking the pump to load a grenade into the launcher. "Time to be playing rough."

The huge beast roared defiantly and swung a massive fist.

Ljubica fired.

But nothing happened. She was out of grenades.

"Fuck and sh-" Ljubica began, but she was abruptly cut off as the Leviathan contemptuously swept her aside with a shattering backhand. She sailed through the air and crashed into the wall of a building, a spray of blood splashing out across the bricks. Her impact left a cracked impression and she fell to the ground, bloodied and broken.

She was very still.

"Boss!" Lin cried, rushing over. She knelt over the stricken woman. Blood was running slowly from her ears and nose, and her right arm was twisted oddly, bone protruding from her upper arm. "Boss, no," Lin growled. "Get up, just get up..." Part of her was sick that she wanted to eat at the woman's wounds, tear into them, but she managed to force the bloodlust away; now wasn't the time.

Then she realized she didn't hear a heartbeat.

Her Boss was dead.

"No no no!" Lin hissed, something inside her tearing at her insides, ripping her open with rage. "No damn it! Don't leave me here you bitch! Don't you dare leave me alone!"

Ljubica didn't respond.

Lin shrieked like a wounded animal, raw and dying. But then the anguished sound became a roar of fury. She whirled on the demon, eyes glowing harsh and bright purple as she drew on everything she had, about to throw it at the creature and die trying to kill it if she had to. Lin herself was nearly gone, control nearly given over completely to her inner nightmare.

There. Weak, quiet, almost impossible to hear. The inner turmoil wanted to ignore it, to fight, to destroy what had taken from them, but Lin, she heard it, ever so tentative and soft, and it let her hold on to her control.

A single heartbeat, barely there. Then another, unsure and unsteady. A third, slightly stronger. Ljubica gasped a shuddering breath, groaning faintly when it was released. She coughed wetly, blood spattering her lips and trailing from the corners of her mouth.

"…a-and shit," she finished weakly.

"Boss!" Lin shouted, kneeling down next to the other woman. Over her shoulder she called "She's alive!"

Atop the scaled monster, the man couldn't care less. He was gripping tightly to avoid being thrown off, scowling as he looked at the women who were giving up so much to give him this one shot. How many of his lieutenants he had watched die in such similar ways at the hand of the creature, he didn't like to dwell on. And now he could have been taking the leaders of these universes away from _their_ Saints…

"Alright motherfucker," he growled climbing up onto the head of the creature and onto its face as the monster whirled and snapped at him. He reached to his belt, pulling the pins of the few grenades still strapped around his hips. His breath caught and he closed his eyes, forcing himself to make peace with what was going to happen. As the monster opened its mouth to screech at him, he jumped, sliding down past the rows of shark-like teeth and over the creature's tongue.

Medusa groaned, a pained shiver running over her battered body as she looked up, her mind in a whirl as she tried to take everything in.

"Russ-…" she mumbled, her eyes rolling in her head to look up at the behemoth creature, just as she saw the man they'd met only moments before leap down into its throat, the beast gnashing it's teeth as it spluttered, trying to chew him before swallowing.

"Easy, I got you," Medusa faintly heard, now more aware of being carried, glancing up only briefly to see Carlos above her, his expression scowling and fearful as he looked to where his own Boss had fallen.

Mercedes' eyes were trained on the demon, her gun to her shoulder and her finger poised on the trigger in case the man's plan didn't work. Her crew was in the same sort, but what happened next left the Italian gaping. "_Mio dio…_"

There was a low rumble from within the demon, and suddenly it exploded, blood-ichor and gore liberally coating everything and everyone within a two block radius, the heavy metallic scales firing across the island. Carlos swore something in Spanish and quickly turned his back to it, ducking behind a dumpster to help shield himself and the woman he carried.

Lin covered her Boss' shattered body with her own, taking the impact of several large shards of bone. A long, thin one skewered through her back, just grazing her heart, and embedded itself in her rib cage. Her own blood gushed down over Ljubica's fragile-looking form, purplish-red mixing with red onto the street.

And then it was over. Lin gently picked the Russian woman up, making her way towards the others.

"I knew you couldn't die you hard ass bitch," Lin told her, swallowing. Despite the welling redness around her eyes, she refused to cry.

Ljubica's eyelids fluttered as she fought to remain conscious amid the tide of pain. She managed a faint smile, voice faint and raspy when she spoke.

"It is being dead, yes? Where is my rifle...? "

Lin managed a faint laugh. "You crazy fuckin' bitch, of course it's dead."


End file.
